
Book.,6 6 £l& , 

Copyright M°._ 



CDFHHGHT DEPOSIT. 



Prophecies of Joseph Smith 
and their Fulfillment 



By 
NEPHI LOWELL MORRIS 



SALT LAKE CITY 

DESERET BOOK COMPANY 

19 2 



Vp 



^|tV 



Copyright, 1920, 

By Nephi Lowell Morris. 

All rights reserved. 

Published 1920. 



NOV 29 1320 

©CLA604377 



Preface 

Time — Truth — Triumph 

Joseph Smith accepted the title and assumed the office 
of Prophet. He asserted his spiritual leadership, and 
with avowed authority spoke in the name of the Deity. 
In addition to the principles of revealed religion which 
he promulgated, he made numerous prophecies. The 
publication of both places him at the mercy of Time. It 
is the purpose of this publication to ascertain and dis- 
close the verdict which Time has thus far rendered. 

Time is the supreme test of a prophecy. He who 
undertakes to foretell events must know that Time in its 
merciless pursuit will find him out. Of all the pretenses 
of the false prophet, prophesying is the most hazardous. 
Religious impostors often display qualities of leadership 
in controlling the affairs of their followers. The more 
modest their pretenses, however, the more likely are they 
to escape detection and exposure. But when spiritual 
leaders assume to exercise the exalted function of proph- 
ecy, and have the courage to publish their prophecies, 
they place their reputations before the bar of the world, 
and as the weight of Time presses out the vintage of the 
centuries they must sink to a deserving oblivion or be 
exalted to a place in the skies. Time is a foe of Fraud, 
but the never-failing friend of Truth. 

Now that the claims of Joseph Smith as prophet have 
been set up before the world for a century, it is proper 
that the verdict of Time should be ascertained. To dis- 
close these findings, this small volume is given out. 
Only a few of the well-known prophecies are here con- 
sidered. 



iv Preface 

Early prints and old and forgotten manuscripts have 
been examined with the intent to establish, without bias, 
the truth with respect to the claims of the Prophet. Such 
first-hand evidence as has been discovered is laid before 
the reader. Originals, wherever possible, are submitted. 
This testimony is highly important for the reason that 
Joseph Smith, as prophet, must stand or fall w r ith the 
outcome. 

Thomas Hartwell Home says: 

"Prophecy is a miracle of knowledge, a declara- 
tion, or representation of something future, beyond 
the power of human sagacity to discern or to calcu- 
late, and it is the highest evidence that can be given 
of supernatural communion with the Deity, and the 
truth of a revelation from God. 

. . . "The man who reads a prophecy and per- 
ceives the corresponding event is himself a witness of 
the miracle." 

Therefore all who read these prophecies and see the 
corresponding events become witnesses to the miracle. 

We here acknowledge the very kind and helpful offices 
of Elders Joseph Fielding Smith and Orson F. Whitney, 
a committee appointed by the First Presidency, who have 
read the manuscript and have made suggestions leading 
to its improvement. We also wish to express our appre- 
ciation to the publishers who have given every aid in the 
matter of getting out the book. Without their encour- 
agement it is probable that a sermon would never have 
grown into the printed volume. 



Contents 

The Great Prophecy on War 1 

A Mighty People in the Rocky Mountains 52 

America — the Cradle of Humanity 106 

The Prophecy Regarding Stephen A. Douglas Ill 

Book of Mormon — A Prophecy 125 

Orson Hyde 141 

The Date of Birth and Crucifixion of the Lord 153 

Two Expulsions from Jackson County, Missouri 180 

Conclusion - 191 

Appendix — Prayer of Orson Hyde on the Mount of 
Olives -193 

Illustrations and Reproductions 

Volume One "A," Original Manuscript History of 

the Church viii 

"The Pearl of Great Price"— Edition of 1851 8 

The Revelation on War, as it Appeared in "The 

Pearl of Great Price," published in 1851 9 

The Revelation on War, as it appeared in "The 

Seer," published in 1854 11 

Facsimile of the Ordinance of Secession, from the 

Charleston "Mercury" 25 

Facsimile of the Confederate Constitution 31 

Secession Banner displayed in the South Carolina 

Convention 33 

The Prophecy on War, photographed from Volume 

One "A," Manuscript History of the Church 41 

Prophecy concerning the Saints becoming "a mighty 

people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains," 

from the "Deseret News," 1855 57 



vi Contents 



Opening page of Anson Call's Journal, commenced 
in 1839 . .... 72 

Anson Call's diary of the prophecy foretelling Lat- 
ter-day Saints becoming a mighty people in the 
Rocky Mountains 73 

Tribute to the State of Utah with respect to its 
Educational Laws, by Dr. E. A. Winship 89 

Latter-day Saints' Temple, Salt Lake City 98 

Latter-day Saints' Temple at Laie, Oahu, Hawaii.... 99 

Prophecy concerning Saints being out of the power 
of their "old enemies," from the "Deseret News," 
1857 104 

Prophecy concerning Stephen A. Douglas, from 
"Deseret News," 1856 113, 115 

Editorial comment of the "Deseret News" on the 
famous speech of Douglas, on the "Mormon" 
question 118, 119 

Prophecy concerning Stephen A. Douglas, from 
"Millennial Star," 1859 122 

Letter of Orson Hyde, addressed to Stephen A. 
Douglas ... - 123 

Photograph of "Millennial Star," containing Orson 
Hyde's prophecy concerning the re-garthering of 
the Jews 146 

General Allenby at the Head of British Troops En- 
tering Jerusalem, December 11, 1917 148 



TO THE MEMORY OF 

JOSEPH SMITH 

WITH REVERENTIAL LOVE 

"Turned from the reed that, breaking, disappoints 
The fool that takes it for the oak; and turning 
On the arm, by which suspended worlds hang 
Innumerous; and eye upturned to where 
The sun ne'er sets, where flows the font of life, 
Beneath the throne of God, unshaken he stood 
By al] that earth could do.' 




Volume One "A", Original Manuscript History of the Church, 
written under the direction of Joseph Smith, by his secretaries, 
during his life and ministry. Dimensions, 14 by 9% by 2% inches. 
Bound in sheep skin. 



Prophecies of Joseph Smith 
and their Fulfillment 



The Great Prophecy on War 

"For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom 
against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pesti- 
lences, and earthquakes, in divers places 

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all 
the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall 
the end come" — Matt. 24:7, 14. 



1. Verily, thus saith the Lord, concerning the wars 
that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the rebellion 
of South Carolina, which will eventually terminate in 
the death and misery of many souls. 

2. The days will come that war will be poured out up- 
on all nations, beginning at that place; 

3. For behold, the Southern States shall be divided 
against the Northern States, and the Southern States will 
call on other nations, even the nation of Great Britain, 
as it is called, and they shall also call upon other nations, 
in order to defend themselves against other nations; and 
then war shall be poured out upon all nations. 

6, And thus, with the sword, and by bloodshed, the in- 
habitants of the earth shall mourn; and with famine, and 



Prophecies of Joseph Smith 



plague, and earthquake, and the thunder of heaven, and 
the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants 
of the earth be made to feel the wrath, and indignation 
and chastening hand of an Almighty God." — Joseph 
Smith. 

The importance of this revelation and prophecy is of 
die greatest magnitude. It was given to Joseph Smith 
nearly a century ago. Because of the remoteness of the 
period, few, perhaps, will associate it with the affairs of 
the time. A slight review of that period will give this 
prophecy its proper historical relationship. It is not a 
disconnected occurrence. It is rationally rooted in cir- 
cumstance. The circumstances are these: Animosity and 
bitterness arose between the people of the North and the 
people of the South. Industrial rivalries and conflicting 
opinions relative to slavery began to breed ill-will and 
the seeds of disunion were sown broadcast. Federal legis- 
lation on matters affecting Southern industries intensi- 
fied this conflict until a distinct line of cleavage began to 
develop between the North and the South. Great excite- 
ment was created over the "Nullification Act" of South 
Carolina. The tongue of sectional strife became articu- 
late in the furious quarrel which followed this act. 

"Congress passed an act in the Spring of 1832, im- 
posing additional duties on imported goods, and 
South Carolina was especially indignant. A conven- 
tion, held on the 19th of November, and presided 
over by her governor, declared that the tariff acts 
were unconstitutional and therefore of no effect. 
The people asserted that the duties should not be 
paid and that any attempt of the government to col- 
lect them would be forcibly resisted, followed by the 
withdrawal of South Carolina from the Union. . . . 



And Their Fulfillment 



The following legislature commended this action. 
. . . The President (Jackson) swore with custom- 
ary emphasis that the Union should be preserved, 
and that he would hang 'as high as Haman' any and 
every one who dared to raise his hand against it. He 
threatened the arrest of Vice-President Calhoun, who 
resigned his office and went home to South Carolina, 
from which he was returned as a United States Sen- 
ator. The President issued a proclamation on the 
10th day of December, denying the right of a state to 
nullify, or declare inoperative, any act of Congress, 
and warned those concerned. ... He begged the 
people to sustain him, etc. . . . His appeal was 
thrown away on 'Carolina, child of the Sun.' Her 
governor was authorized to accept services of volun- 
teers; new arms were bought; fortifications were re- 
paired; and the young men were drilled. . . . The 
Star-Spangled Banner was displayed Union down, 
and a flag was made ready to take its place as soon 
as secession should be proclaimed." — "Ellis's His- 
tory," Vol. 3, p. 744. 

In this very year, a distinguished visitor from France 
prophesied the "inevitable separation" of the North and 
South." Something resembling this prediction is said to 
have been made by the celebrated English novelist, 
Charles Dickens, who visited this country about ten years 
later. Muzzey says of the feeling that characterized the 
two sections at this period: "It was apparently the honest 
conviction of the Northerners that every man south of 
Mason and Dixon's line was a Preston Brooks, 1 and of 



1 Preston Brooks, Senator from South Carolina, became so en- 
raged over a speech delivered on the floor of the Senate by Sen- 
ator Sumner, which was characterized by scathing invective and 
furious denunciation of the "slave-holding aristocrats," that he, 



Prophecies of Joseph Smith 



Southerners that every man north of the line was a John 
Brown. 2 Mr. Russell, the correspondent of the London 
Times, found that on one side of the Ohio River he was 
among "abolitionists, cut throats, Lincolnites, mercen- 
aries, invaders, assassins," and on the other side among 
"rebels, robbers, conspirators, wretches bent on destroy- 
ing the most perfect government on the face of the 
earth." He testified that there was less vehemence and 
bitterness among the Northerners, but no less deter- 
mination." 

Allusion to this disquieting situation is made in the 
chapter of Church history which contains the above rev- 
elation and prophecy, thus: 

"The United States, with all her pomp and great- 
ness, was threatened with immediate dissolution. The 
people of South Carolina, in convention assembled 
(in November), passed ordinances, declaring their 
state a free and independent nation; and appointed 
Thursday, the first day of January, 1833, as a day of 
humiliation and prayer, to implore Almighty God to 
vouchsafe his blessings, and restore liberty and hap- 
piness within their borders. President Jackson is- 
sued his proclamation against this rebellion, called 
out a force sufficient to quell it, and implored the 
blessings of God to assist the nation to extricate itself 
from the horrors of the approaching and solemn 
crisis." 



two days later, when Sumner was bending over his desk at work, 
beat him almost to death with a heavy gutta-percha cane. Sum- 
ner's brilliant powers were permanently impaired by this assault, 
which finally resulted in his death. A motion to expel Brooks 
failed for lack of the necessary two-thirds vote. He was later re- 
elected to the Senate by an almost unanimous vote from his dis- 
trict in South Carolina. 

2 John Brown of Lawrence, Kansas, and Harper's Ferry fame. 



And Their Fulfillment 



In a debate between Webster and Hayne on the tariff 
question, Mr. Webster said: 

"While the Union lasts we have high, exciting, 
gratifying prospects spread out before us for us and 
our children. Beyond that I seek not to penetrate the 
veil. God grant that, in my day, at least, that curtain 
may not rise. God grant that on my vision never 
may be opened what lies behind! When my eyes 
shall be turned to behold for the last time the sun in 
heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and 
dishonored fragments of a once glorious union, on 
states dissevered, discordant, beligerent; on a land 
rent with civic feuds; or drenched, it may be, in fra- 
ternal blood." 

Joseph Smith says that while he was earnestly pray- 
ing on December 25, 1832, relative to these threatening 
occurrences, a voice declared to him "that the com- 
mencement of the difficulties which will cause much 
bloodshed . . . will be in South Carolina." (See 
Doctrine and Covenants, p. 461.) 

A state of rebellion actually existed in South Carolina 
at the very time the prophecy was made. War, however, 
did not break out until more than twenty-eight years 
later. 

Great importance naturally attaches to the date of the 
publication of this remarkable prophecy. It is true that it 
was not published in the earlier editions of the Doctrine 
and Covenants. That may also be said of other revela- 
tions now printed in that book. It is absolutely neces- 
sary to prove the publication of this prophecy a reason- 
able time prior to the outbreak of the Civil war to estab- 
lish satisfactorily the genuineness and force of the proph- 



Prophecies of Joseph Smith 



ecy. Fortunately we have incontrovertible evidence to 
submit on those two points. 

On August 26, 1876, in the "New Tabernacle," Orson 
Pratt, in speaking on the prophecies of Joseph Smith and 
their fulfillment, said: 

"I might well mention another prophecy, which 
was printed in several languages, and published 
among the various nations in whose language it was 
printed, which was twenty-eight years reaching ful- 
filment. The Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph 
Smith that there would be a great rebellion between 
the Northern and Southern States, commencing in the 
State of South Carolina, and that it would terminate 
in the death and misery of many souls. This, as you 
all know, has been literally fulfilled. When I was a 
boy, I traveled extensively in the United States and 
the Canadas, preaching this restored gospel. I had a 
manuscript copy of this revelation, which I carried 
in my pocket, and I was in the habit of reading it to 
the people among whom I traveled and preached. 
As a general thing the people regarded it as the 
height of nonsense, saying the Union was too strong 
to be broken; and I, they said, was led away, the 
victim of an imposter. . . . Year after year 
passed away while every little while some of the ac- 
quaintances I had formerly made would say: 'Well, 
what is going to become of that prediction? It's 
never going to be fulfilled.' Said I, 'The Lord has 
his time set.' By and by it came along, and the first 
battle was fought at Charleston, South Carolina." 

The first printed publication of this important reve- 
lation and prophecy occurred in the year 1851, just ten 
years before the Civil War began. If, for the sake of 



And Their Fulfillment 



argument, the date of its origin was forced down to that 
year, it stands as an unquestioned inspiration or revela- 
tion, for it is absolutely beyond the power of human in- 
telligence to foretell with such extraordinary exactness 
events ten years distant. Dickens, DeTocqueville, and 
Alexander H. Stephens may have predicted an "inevita- 
ble separation," "bloodshed" and "war," but Joseph 
Smith in this prophecy declared where it should begin, 
described the magnitude of the wars and defined the pre- 
cise nature of the conflict, viz., the rebellion of the South 
against the North, with other features of the most spe- 
cific character. To appreciate the magnitude of this 
"miracle of knowledge" let any living person undertake 
to describe or foretell events thirty, or even ten years 
distant. It is humanly impossible. Much more so is it 
to foretell occurrences of a most extraordinary character. 
This is exactly what Joseph Smith did, under the inspira- 
tion of the Almighty God. The publication in which 
this prophecy first appeared was the Pearl of Great Price, 
a small volume containing other authoritative writings 
of Joseph Smith, and was published by Franklin D. Rich- 
ards in Liverpool, England, at 15 Wilton St.; the pre- 
face is dated July 11th, 1851. (See photographic repro- 
duction of the title page of this book, also a reproduction 
of the Revelation itself, taken from page 35 of same.) 

In volume 13, Millennial Star, under date of July 15, 
1851, an advertisement of this book appears as follows: 

"Pearl of Great Price, is the title of a new book 
which will soon be ready for sale, containing 64 
pages on beautiful paper of superior quality, and 
on new type of a larger size than any heretofore is- 
sued from this office. It contains .... 

"A Revelation given December, 1832, which has 
never before appeared in print." 



THE 



PEARL OF GREAT PRICE; 



CHOICE SELECTION 



REVELATIONS, TRANSLATIONS, AND NARRATIONS 



JOSEPH SMITH, 



FIRST PROPHET, SEES, AND REVELATOB TO THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST 
OF IATTER-DAY SAINTS. 



LIVERPOOL: 
PUBLISHED B? F. T>. RICHARDS, 15, WILTON STREET. 

. 1851. 

The Revelation on War appeared first in print in this publication. 



35 

A. — We are to understand that it was a mission, and an ordinance, for him 
to gather the tribes of Israel ; behold, this is Ellas ; who, as it is written, must 
come and restore all things. 

Q. — What is to be understood by lite two witnesses, in the eleventh chap- 
ter of Revelations ? 

A.- — They are two Prophets that are to he raised up to the Jewish Nation 
in the last days, at the time of the restoration, and to prophesy to the Jews, 
after they are gathered, and build the city of Jerusalem, in the land of their 
fathers. 



A REVELATION AND PROPHECY BY THE PROPHET, SEER, AND REVELATOR, 
JOSEPH SMITH. 

Given December •Zoih. 1832. 

" Verily thus saith the Lord, concerning the wars that will shortly come to 
pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina, which will eventually ter- 
minate in the death and misery of many souls. The days will come that war 
will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at that place ; for behold, the 
Southern States shall be divided against the Northern States, and the South- 
ern States will call on other nations, even the nation of Great Britain, as it is 
called, and they shall also call upon other nations, in order to defend them- 
selves against other nations ; and thus war shall be poured out upon all na- 
tions. And it shall come to pass, after many days, slaves shall rise up against 
their Masters, who shall be marshalled and disciplined for war : And it shall 
come to pass also, that the remnants who are left of the land will marshall 
themselves, and shall become exceeding angry, and shall vex the Gentiles 
with a sore vexation ; and thus, with the sword, and by bloodshed, the inha- 
bitants of the earth shall mourn ; and with famine, and plague, and earth- 
quakes, and the thunder of Heaven, and the fierce and vivid Kghtning also, 
shall the inhabitants of the earthy be made to feel the wrath, and indignation 
and chastening hand of an Almighty God. until the consumption decreed, 
hath made a full end of all nations ; that the cry of the Saints, and of the 
blood of the Saints, shall cease to come up into the ears of the Lord of Sab- 
b&oth, from the earth, to be avenged of their enemies. Wherefore, stand ye 
in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come ; for behold 
it cometh quicHy, saith the Lord. Amen/* 



A photograph of the Revelation on War taken from the Pearl of 
Great Price, published in Liverpool, 1851, 



10 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

The Pearl of Great Price was thereafter distributed 
throughout the entire civilized world. The Millennial 
Star also had a world-wide circulation and in this way 
the Revelation on War was committed to the "immortal 
custody of the press." 

References to it thereafter appear in all the literature 
of the Church. It became the property of the public 
from the day it left the precss at Liverpool. To publish 
an edition at a subsequent time with a false imprint 
would be folly in the extreme. 

In the year 1857, Orson Pratt published the first edi- 
tion of the "Compendium" of the Faith and Doctrines of 
the Church. It was printed in Liverpool, and was written 
by Franklin D. Richards. Under every heading, chapter 
by chapter, references are systematically made to the 
Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Cove- 
nants, and the Pearl of Great Price. Thus, the book con- 
taining this Prophecy is at once recognized as a stand- 
ard work of the Church and has continued to be so 
recognized from 1851 to this day. 

In the year 1854, this Prophecy was reprinted in The 
Seer. s with reference to the Pearl of Great Price as its 
source. (See reproduction of this article.) The Revela- 
tion agrees perfectly with the original publication. This 
gives us four publications of world-wide circulation, as 
irrefutable testimony to the existence of this great Proph- 
ecy all the way from three to ten years prior to the out- 
break of the War of the Rebellion, as Joseph Smith 
called it. 

The late President George Q. Cannon, in speaking of 
this matter said: 



B The Seer was a monthly periodical that was edited by Orson 
Pratt, in Washington, D. C, and published by Samuel W. Rich- 
ards, then presiding over the British Mission. It first appeared in 
January, 1853, and continued for a few years. 









ALL ¥E lXHABiT\ 



Vol. II, NO. 4r. 



AM) BWELLEKS OX TIU: EABTIf, SEE 
OX THE MOUNTAINS — lstiitth XV Hi, 3. 

APRIL, 1S5A. 



WHE3 HI. 



WAK. 



A RHX LLATi 



" Verily thus saith the Lord, con- 
cerning the wars that will shortly come 
to pass, beginning at the rebellion of 
South Carolina, winch will eventually 
terminate in the death and misery of 



many souls. 

war will be \ 

tions, beginning at that 

behold, the Southern Stat 



lays will come that 

1 out upon all na- 

lace ; for 

s shall be 



divided against the Northern States ; 
and the Southern States will call on 
other nations, even the nation of Great 
Britain, as it is called, and they shall 
also call upon other nations in order 
to defend themselves against other na- 
tions : and thus war shall ho poured 
out upon all 



-4' 



come to } : 
shall rise 
who shall be 
lined for war. 
pass also, that 



nations. And it shall 
alter many days, slaves 
against their Masters, 
marshalled and diseip- 
And it shall come to 
the remnants who are 
left of the land will marshal them- 
selves, and shall become exceeding 
angry, and shall vex the Gentiles with 
a sore vexation. And thus, with the 
*nvord, and by bloodshed, the inhabi- 
tants of the earth shall mourn ; and 
with famine, and plague, and earth- 
quakes, and the thunder of heaven, 
and the ileree and vivid lightning also, 



El; E Tj * E K K, A X \ * K E "V f '. L AT < ' 13 , .i O S 1 1 !* 1 J .> M i I , •? , 
EB 25th, 1S32. 

j shall the inhabitants of the earth bo j 
I made to feel the wrath, and indigna- 
i tion, and chastening hand of an Al~ 
i mighty God, until the consumption \ 
! decreed hath made a full end of all 
; nations ; that the cry of the Saints. 

and of the blood of Saints, shall eeaso j 
j to come up into the ears of the Lord j 
| of Sabaoth, from the earth, to be* j 
| avenged of their enemies. Wherefore. \ 
! stand ye in holy places, and be not 

moved, until the day of the Lord come ; 
j for behold, it cometh quickly, saith the 
1 Lord. Amen." (Pearl of Great Price, 

page 35.) 

The above revelation was given 
I twenty-one years ago last Christmas. 
! We learn by this, some particulars in 
j regard to the nature of that universal 
i war winch is soon to deluge sill the 
j nations and kingdoms of the earth. 
; The first indication of this fearful ca > 
I lamity was to begin in the rebellion of 
j South Carolina. The revelation doeK 
j not inform us that the first symptom 
| of this rebellion would exhibit any 

thing very alarming in its appearance > 
; but says, that it " trill eventually ter-- 
j minaie in the death and misery of many 
j wuU" " Eventually •" '(not directly or 
i immediately.) should the rebellion --of 



The above periodical re-published the Revelation on War with 
reference to its source. 



12 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

"I recollect very well that in the fall of 1860, while 
going to England, we were invited at Omaha to 
preach the gospel to the people of that city. A good 
many of the leading citizens procured the Court . 
House for us, and Brother Pratt preached. By re- 
quest I read the Revelation given through Joseph 
Smith on the 25th of December, 1832, respecting 
the secession of the Southern States. It created a 
great sensation, the election of Abraham Lincoln 
having just been consummated, and it being well 
known that there was a great deal of feeling in the 
South in relation to it. A great many people came 
forward and examined the book from which the 
Revelation was read to see the date, to satisfy them- 
selves that it was not a thing of recent manufacture. 
The Revelation was in the Pearl of Great Price which 
was published in 1851." 

To the testamentary of these well known publications, 
to that of these well known men of highest probity and 
standing we here introduce the testimony of three men, 
still alive, and of the highest integrity, and intelligence, 
and of prominence in various lines of public service. 

LETTER OF PRESIDENT ANTHON H. LUND. 

"The First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ 
of Latter-day Saints. 

"Salt Lake City, Utah, April 13, 1920. 
"President Nephi L. Morris, 
"City. 
"Dear Brother Morris: — 

"You have asked me to put in the form of a letter 
what I know of the publication of the Prophecy on 
War given as a revelation to the Prophet Joseph 



And Their Fulfillment 13 

Smith on December 25, 1832, and now published 
in the Doctrine and Covenants under Sec. 87. 

"When I was thirteen and a half years old I was 
called to do missionary work in Denmark, my native 
land. Because of my membership in the Church of 
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I had a strong de- 
sire to learn the English language, and, therefore, 
took private lessons in that tongue. Though I was 
but a youth, my familiarity with English fitted me 
for missionary work in many ways. 

"I remember distinctly reading, in 1858, the Pearl 
of Great Price which was published in Liverpool in 
1851, and would verbally translate the Prophecy on 
War, which first appeared in that publication, to 
the Danish Saints in their meetings as w T ell as in 
private. I well remember with what keen interest 
we followed the events that transpired some three 
years later when the War of the Rebellion actually 
broke out. 

"These dates are accurately fixed in my mind by 
reason of my having to meet at school examination to 
ascertain if I had sufficient knowledge to be allowed 
liberty from attending public schools before I was 
fourteen years of age. 

"Yours Very Truly, 

[Signed! "Anthon H. Lund." 

LETTER OF PRESIDENT CHARLES W. PENROSE. 
THE REVELATION ON WAR. 

"On the 6th day of January, in the year 1851, I 
was ordained an Elder in the Church of Jesus Christ 
of Latter-day Saints, at the Church office in Jewin 
Street, London, England, under the hands of George 



14 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

B. Wallace of Salt Lake City, then counselor to the 
president of the European Mission. 

"I was sent as a traveling elder into the County 
of Essex, especially in the town of Maldon and the 
country surrounding, where I was successful in 
preaching the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and 
raising up some branches of the Church. Later in 
the year I obtained a copy of a pamplet published 
by President Franklin D. Richards at the Church of- 
fices in Wilton Street, Liverpool, England, entitled, 
'Pearl of Great Price.' Among other articles it 
contained a Revelation and Prophecy given through 
Joseph the Seer, on War, December 25, 1832. 

"This reveluation is now contained, verabtim, in 
the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, Section 87, com- 
mencing with these words: 

" 'Verily thus saith the Lord concerning the wars 
that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the re- 
bellion of South Carolina, which will eventually 
terminate in the death ard misery of many souls. 
The days will come that war will be poured upon 
all nations, beginning at that place.' 

"During my labors of ten years after obtaining 
that revelation I preached on the subjects referred 
to therein in various parts of the British Isles, and 
confidently looked forward to its fulfillment, as I 
had a divine testimony of its truth. It became a 
subject of faith among the Latter-day Saints every- 
where, and its literal fulfillment in after years has 
been cited as evidence that Joseph Smith was in 
very deed a Prophet of God. 

"During the period I have mentioned it was pro- 
claimed as prophecy on par with divine predictions 
contained in Holy Scriptures. I still have the pam- 



And Their Fulfillment 15 

phlet herein described, and comparison with the sec- 
tion in the book of Doctrine and Covenants shows 
that the two versions are identical. 

"I make this statement to meet queries that have 
been raised concerning the matter by people who 
doubt the accuracy of the date cf its first publication, 
and I hereby declare with all solemnity before God 
and men that this witness is true. 

[Signed) "Charles W. Penrose." 

"State of Utah ) 

i ss 
County of Salt Lake [ 

"On this seventh day of April, A. D. 1920, before 
me a Notary Public, personally appeared Charles W. 
Penrose, known to me to be the same person whose 
name is subscribed to the foregoing document, and 
duly acknowledged to me that he executed the same 
and that the statements therein contained are true 
and correct. 

"In Witness Whereof I have hereunto set my hand 
and affixed my Notarial Seal the day and year first 
above written. 
[Seal] "Arthur Winter. 

"Notary Public" 

(See originals in Church Historian's Office.) 

COPY OF SEYMOUR B. YOUNG LETTER. 

"Salt Lake City, Utah. 
"April 29, 1920. 
"President Nephi L. Morris, 
"21 West South Temple, 
"City. 
"Dear Brother: — 

"Several years before the first gun was fired by 



16 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

the rebels on Fort Sumter, in the Spring of 1861, 
I remember my attention being called to the publi- 
cation of the Revelation on War given through the 
Prophet Joseph Smith, December 25, 1832, now 
found recorded in the book of Doctrine and Cov- 
enants, page 304, section 87. . . . The war 
that was shortly to come to pass had its beginning 
when the first gun was fired on Fort Sumter on the 
date above named. . . . The revelation was 
published and given to the world about twelve years 
before the Civil War began. Always and often as 
the allusion was made to the coming war between 
the North and the South we were reminded of the 
revelation of the Prophet who predicted this event, 
and we never had any doubt of its fulfillment. .. 
"Respectfully your Brother, 

"Seymour B. Young." 

There appears to be absolutely no ground for doubt 
that this Prophecy was published to the world at least 
ten years prior to the occurrence of the beginning of 
events it foretells. And it was subsequently printed 
numerous times before the great initial event foretold 
transpired. 

1. "Concerning the wars that will shortly come to 
pass" 

With the war record of the nations of the earth in 
mind one could almost predict war for any time in the 
future without seriously missing it. War, in greater 
or lesser degree, has almost been perpetual since or- 
ganized governments began. This Revelation, how- 
ever, made known the coming of a series of wars, of 
which the War of the Rebellion was to be the beginning. 
In naming South Carolina as the beginning place of the 



And Their Fulfillment 17 

first of the series of wars it becomes remarkably spe- 
cific. The declaration includes a European war which 
was to be subsequent to the American war. More than 
twenty-eight years after the prophecy was made, the first 
great conflict actually occurred, precisely as foretold. 
Then a half-century passes by and Europe still main- 
tains a "military" and "commercial" peace. The Hague 
Tribunal had a glorious record of arbitration which 
seemed to presage the end of rule by might and was 
taken, by some, to be promise of the reign of right and 
reason in the earth. Modern inventions, compulsory uni- 
versal training, great and boundless national resources, 
military schools and ingenius inventions had made war 
so incomparably destructive that economists began to 
realize how utterly niad such a war of destruction would 
be. Inter-nationalists and diplomatists saw the disad- 
vantages of such a conflict. Financiers saw the abso- 
lute ruin of wealth in terms that turned them sickened 
from the contemplation of war. Peace societies carried 
on a systematic propaganda and didn't hesitate to as- 
sume to introduce the Millennium. 

"There will be no war in the future, for it has become 
impossible now that it is clear that war means suicide," 
wrote I. S. Bloch in "The Future of War." 

In October, 1910, David Starr Jordan, upon landing 
from England, was interviewed by the representatives of 
the press on the European situation where he had been 
lecturing on universal peace. When asked as to the 
prospects of a war over there he said, "There is no war 
coming." Continuing, "As to the prospects of a war be- 
tween Germany and England, there is about as much 
chance of a conflict between the United States and Mars. 
. . . The only battle between England rnd Germany 
will be on paper." 






18 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

And Mr. Jordan, in his optimistic book, "War 
and Waste," 1913, arrived at this very comforting con- 
clusion in discussing the European situation: 

"What shall we say of the Great War of Europe, 
ever threatening, ever impending, and which never 
comes? We shall say that it will never come. Hu- 
manly speaking, it is impossible. 

"Not in the physical sense, of course, for with 
weak, reckless, and Godless men nothing evil is im- 
possible. It may be, of course, that some half-crazed 
arch-duke or some harassed minister of state shall 
half-knowing give the signal for Europe's conflagra- 
tion. In fact, the agreed signal has been given more 
than once within the last few months. The tinder 
is well dried and laid in such a way as to make the 
worst of this catastrophe. All Europe cherishes is 
ready for the burning. Yet Europe recoils and will 
recoil even in the dread stress of spoil -division of 
the Balkan War. . . . 

"But accident aside, the Triple Entente lined up 
against the Triple Alliance, we shall expect no war." 

"The bankers will not find the money for such a 
fight, the industries of Europe will not maintain it, 
the statesmen cannot. So whatever the bluster or 
apparent provocation, it comes to the same thing in 
. the end. There will be no general war until the 
masters direct the fighters to fight. The masters 
have much to gain, but vastly more to lose, and 
their signal will not be given." 

While the intellectuals and the pacifists were thus 
singing their soothing songs to a more or less distracted 
world that really wished to be lulled into the sweet 



And Their Fulfillment 19 

dreams of a warless world, all of a sudden, war clouds 
began to gather over the Balkans. At that unsuspecting 
moment in the world's history, August 1, 1914, the torch 
of human wilfulness was deliberately hurled into the 
very magazines of European military preparedness and 
in the four years that followed more than half the world 
was literally wrecked. The great cataclysm has long 
been given the august title, The World War. In its fury 
and destructiveness all other wars by comparison are as 
events of small moment. This war threatened civiliza- 
tion. It taught the pacifist propagadist that he must 
rot only sing and preach and pray for peace but that 
he really had to _fight for it. It was a rude awakening 
the world experienced, but it learned that the word of 
God fails not. The prophets of old had declared that 
the men should cry "Peace, peace, when there was no 
peace" and the modern prophet had said "and war shall 
be poured out upon all nations" 

It is worthy of note that the War of the Rebellion 
marked the passing of the old methods of warfare to a 
remarkable extent and the introduction of what we call 
modern warfare. The wars that have occurred since 
might well be grouped by themselves as possessing dis- 
tinctive characteristics. They thereby fall in with the 
great prediction of Joseph Smith in that they are a dis- 
tinct group or series of wars. 

On this particular subject it is interesting to read the 
observations of Ambassador Gerard in his "My Four 
Years in Germany:" 

"I remember one evening I was asked the ques- 
tion as to what America could do, supposing the al- 
most impossible, that America should resent the re- 
commencement of ruthless submarine warfare by 
the Germans and declare war. I said that nearly all 



20 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

of the great inventions used in the war had been 
made by Americans; the very submarine which 
formed the basis of our discussion was an Ameri- 
can invention; so were the barbed wire and the air- 
plaine, the ironclad, the telephone and the telegraph, 
so necessary to trench warfare, and even that meth- 
od of warfare had been first developed on some- 
thing of the present scale in our Civil War." 

Mr. James H. Anderson, in an interesting address on 
this subject makes the following enlightened observa- 
tions : 

"The wars between 1832 [the year of Joseph 
Smith's prophecy on war] and the civil war which 
began in 1861, possess no distinguishing character- 
istics, such as those wars do which occurred subse- 
quent to that date." 

He adds: 

"There was, however, a distinguishing feature in- 
dicated for the Civil War of 1861-4. It was then 
[1862] that the machine gun was brought forth, the 
Gatling gun as we know it, which soon was adopted 
by other civilized nations. It absolutely revolu- 
tionized warfare on land. This gun then had a ca- 
pacity of firing 350 shots per minute, improved up- 
on later; but it was the beginning of new and more 
destructive methods of warfare that were unknown 
theretofore." 

He relates how the revolving turret has since evolved 
into our great ironclad gun boats which revolutionized 
warfare on sea. Continuing: 

"The first time a submarine was used in war was by 



And Their Fulfillment 21 

the Confederates when they went out with the little 
submarine David and sank the Federal warship 
Housatonic. It is true the attacking vessel also was 
sunk, because those in charge did not observe the in- 
structions of the builder; but this was the beginning 
of submarine warfare nevertheless." 

It should be stated here that not less than twenty-four 
war vessels and transports were destroyed by the Con- 
federacy by means of the torpedo. Mr. Anderson points 
out how, in his opinion, the "tanks" and "pill-boxes" as 
well as the fortresses of France are little more than the 
perfected machine guns and turrets in combination. 
These inventions were all introduced for the first time 
in the Civil War and resulted, in their more perfected 
form, in making subsequent wars incomparably de- 
structive both of human life and property. 

As a result of these methods being employed now-a- 
days war has taken on a more deadly aspect than ever 
before. The battles of these times are fought on the 
ground and under the ground, on the sea and beneath 
the surface of the sea. The heavens whirr with pro- 
jectiles and engines of destruction. From the clouds 
bombs are dropped that shatter the surroundings where 
they fall, including human beings who are shattered in 
mind and body. Bombs are dropped that not only blast, 
but others that spread deadly and flesh destroying, 
poisonous gasses that blight and blind every living thing 
within their far-spreading reach. 

On the oceans deadly torpedoes run scudding for 
miles beneath the surface of the engulfing deep to 
bring suddenly beneath the dark waves their victims by 
the thousands per shot. On land, strange, monster 
"tanks," armor-clad, and furiously loud with machine 



22 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

gun and cannon, walk defiantly into the very ranks of 
the enemy infantry. 

The poet-prophet Tennyson foresaw the warfare of 
these times and in graceful verse depicted his vision 
thus: 

"For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could 

see; 
Saw the vision of the world, and all the wonder that 

would be; 

Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of 

magic sails, 
Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with 

costly bales. 

Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there 

rained a ghastly dew 
From the nations' airy navies grapping in the central 

blue. 

Far along the world-wide whisper of the south wind 

rushing warm, 
And the standards of the peoples plunging through 

the thunderstorm; 

'Till the war drum throbbed no longer, and the bat- 
tle flags were furled 

In the parliament of man, the federation of the 
world." 

2. ''Beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina." 

Before the close of the Buchanan administration, 
South Carolina had seceded. She had seized property 
of the United States, consisting of public buildings, forts 



And Their Fulfillment 23 

and arsenals within the State. She had seized the guns 
of a United States battery and had fired them upon a 
ship flying the Stars and Stripes. Against these acts 
of defiant rebellion no protest was made by the ad- 
ministration. Following the seditious example of South 
Carolina, six other cotton states proceeded to take over 
arsenals, forts, troops, and money belonging to the 
United States. And that, too, without so much as the 
raising of a finger in protest by the government. The 
Confederate government received from the state of 
Louisiana $536,000 in coin which was seized from the 
United States mint at New Orleans. For this beneficent 
contribution to the cause of rebellion a vote of thanks 
was tendered the recalcitrant state by the government at 
Montgomery. These states had thus possessed them- 
selves of $30,000,000 in property. Secretaries Floyd and 
Thompson, of the Cabinet were openly aiding the se- 
cession without even a threat of dismissal by the Presi- 
dent. Thirty years before, when the first manifestations 
of sedition cropped out, President Buchanan was at the 
embassy in St. Petersburg, and Andrew Jackson was in 
the White House. President Jackson, in a vigorous 
proclamation went right after South Carolina with a 
threat to "hang as high as Haman" any man who 
raised his hand against the government. In a letter 
to Buchanan written at that time he said, "I have met 
nullification at the threshold." No wonder the men of 
the North were in 1860 exclaiming "0 for one hour of 
Andrew Jackson!" 

"The legislature of South Carolina was in session 
when the election of Lincoln was announced. It ha. 
met to choose the presidential electors for the state, (a 
function elsewhere performed by the people at the 
polls) and after choosir^; Breckinridge electors it had 



24 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

voted to remain in session until the result of the election 
was known, threatening to advise the secession of the 
state in case the 'Black Republican' candidate were 
successful. It now immediately called a convention of 
the state to meet the next month to carry out its threat 
of secession. On the twentieth of December the con- 
vention met at Charleston and carried, by the unanimous 
vote of its 169 members, the resolution that /the Union 
now subsisting between South Carolina and the other 
states under the name of the United States of America, 
is hereby dissolved. 1 The ordinance of secession 
was met with demonstrations of joy by the people of 
South Carolina. The city of Charleston was decked 
with the Palmetto flag of the state. Salvos of artillery 
were fired, houses were draped with blue bunting, and 
the bells were rung in a hundred churches. The an- 
cient commonwealth of South Carolina after many 
threats and warnings, had at last 'resumed its po- 
sition as a free and independent state.' ' 

At this dramatic crisis the government of the coun- 
try passed over to Abraham Lincoln. A rival govern- 
ment had been in operation for about one month when 
Lincoln made his inaugural address, March 4, 1861. 



3. "Beginning at South Carolina" 

Nearly every fort and arsenal in the South had 
been taken over by the Southern Confederacy. Sedi- 
tion had honeycombed practically every department 
in Washington. There was a wide-spread egress from 
Congress, the executive departments, from federal of- 
fices, from army and navy posts, as the men from 
the South departed hurriedly to join fortunes with 
their states. The little garrison at Fort Sumter, under 



And Their Fulfillment 25 



CUJtUSIOlf 

MERCURY 

EXTRA* 



HO/ A, I860. 
AH OBBW AMCE 

0/ttm meUtmtttd wUh ktr rnmdfr tt» nmpmtt m*tto4 «Th* 
Cmttm&m <&**» 0ntt*4 Statu *f «t»uHm,» 



flu* (to OtSme* tfeptM \rj m nOw*M8oa l M &« tw«y.«tJ*« ^ *' M*j, a a* 
fwitfwrUriiM ft WM& w w tom d w d «ad,«iftay- t i g lrt, w t m ty i>> Co n W j uUwt at •» 

jjniil/ of tt» Baa, tflftg i irfrmti i «f «» «tt Ciiumwki. »w x»^y ^wM] 



THJi 



UNION 

DISSOIVEB! 



| Facsimile of the Ordinance of 
Secession 

"Beginning at the Rebellion oi South Carolina*" 



26 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

the heroic command of Major Robert Anderson was 
reduced to the lowest ebb with regard to stores. 

The inaugural address is said to be the finest sta'.e 
paper in history. In the most solemn candor this tre- 
mendous responsibility is placed at the feet of the 
men of the South: "In your hands, my dissatisfied 
fellow countrymen, and not in mine is the momentous 
issue of civil war. The government will not assail 
you. You can have no conflict without yourselves 
being the aggressors. You have no oath registered in 
heaven to destroy the government, while / shall have 
the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend 
it." 

A few days after the address, President Lincoln in- 
formed his cabinet of the threatening situation at 
Charleston. During the closing days of the Buchanan 
administration commissioners appeared at the White 
House representing the "Sovereign State of South Caro- 
lina" for the purpose of negotiating the transfer of the 
forts in Charleston Harbor. Buchanan weakly prom- 
ised not to reinforce the supplies of the forts with the 
assurance from South Carolina that she would refrain 
from attacking them. Union sentiment pressed so hard 
that Buchanan yielded to the extent of sending provis- 
ions to Major Anderson. The "Star of the West," loaded 
with supplies, was approaching Fort Sumter and flying 
an American flag, when, on the 9th of January, 1861, 
she was fired upon and struck by guns from Fort 
Morris and was thereby forced to turn back. This was 
the first act of war, and it occurred in South Carolina. 
The war did not really begin, however, until early in 
the morning of April 12, 1861, when shells began to 
stream from the several forts that surrounded Fort 
Sumter — Fort Johnson. Morris. Sullivan's and James 



And Their Fulfillment 27 

Islands — all had simultaneously turned their batteries 
on Sumter. Finally, after a heroic but hopeless re- 
sistance, brave Major Anderson surrendered to the bel- 
ligerent foe. The day after the surrender (April 15th) 
Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 state 
militia troops in order to suppress the combined states 
naming South Carolina first among the offenders. And 
since the prophecy specifically declared that the war 
should originate in South Carolina we deem it signifi- 
cant that that state should be listed as "head and front 
of the offenders" in the first six or seven proclama- 
tions, and messages of the President on the subject. 
In his message to the special session of Congress on 
July 4, 1861, he makes this charge: 

"At the beginning of the present Presidential term, 
four months ago, the functions of the general gov- 
ernment were found to be generally suspended within 
the several States of South Carolina, Georgia, et al. 
. . . They have forced upon the country the dis- 
tinct issue, immediate dissolution or blood." 

He also asked for an army of 400,000 men and 
$400,000,000 to commence the war plans. This pointed 
observation also appears in the message: "It may well 
be questioned whether there is today a majority of 
the legally qualified voters of any State, except, per- 
haps, South Carolina, in favor of disunion." 

It is obvious, therefore, that the War of the Re- 
bellion hai its beginning, step by step, in South Caro- 
lina. The first state convention attempting to annul 
the bonds of the United States was that of South Caro- 
lina. Hers were the first Senators to withdraw from 
the Senate, and likewise her Congressmen were the first 



28 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

to violate their oaths of office, by proving disloyal to 
the Constitution. 

Ellis' History has this to say of South Carolina: 

"South Carolina, fiery, impetuous, headlong, was 
the leader in the secession movement, as she had been 
in the nullification outburst nearly 30 years before." 

The Democratic national convention, at which there 
were present 600 delegates, assembled in Charleston, 
South Carolina, on the 23rd day of April, 1860, to 
nominate candidates for the Presidency and Vice-Presi- 
dency and to make a declaration of their principles. 
Radical secessionists from six states bolted this conven- 
tion. 

DEFIANCE OF THE STATE. 

The State Convention of South Carolina met in 
Charleston on the 17th of December, with David F. 
Jamison as presiding officer. On the 20th, the follow- 
ing resolution was unanimously adopted by the 169 
delegates and afterwards signed by every one: 

"We the people of South Carolina in convention 
assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby 
declared and ordained, that the ordinance adopted 
by us on the 23rd day of May in the year 1788, 
whereby the Constitution of the United States was 
ratified, and also all acts and parts of acts, of the 
General Assembly of the State ratifying amendments 
of the said Constitution, are hereby repealed and 
the union now subsisting between South Carolina 
and other states, under the name of the United 
States, is hereby dissolved." 

So, it will be seen that South Carolina assumed lead- 
ership in "defiant confidence;" appointed ministers 



And Their Fulfillment 29 

to treat with the United States as though she were a 
foreign power; and addressed other slave states, invit- 
ing them to join her in the formation of a confederacy. 
Governor Pickens, of that state, appointed his cabinet 
officers, and independent South Carolina entered upon 
its brief and stormy existence. 

In this very remarkable manner was the Prophecy 
of Joseph Smith fulfilled to the very letter. 

4. "Which will eventually terminate in the death and 
misery of many souls." 

The opening words of this remarkable prophecy run 
thus: "Thus saith the Lord, concerning the wars [plural] 
that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the rebellion 
of South Carolina." It is obvious that a number of 
wars, then future, were foretold; that of the series 01 
group of wars referred to, the War of the Rebellion 
was to be the initial war; that all of them, in combined 
result, would cause the "death and misery of many 
souls." As early as 1854, Orson Pratt, in writing of this 
prophecy plainly perceived that the war which was to 
begin at South Carolina was to be by comparison with 
subsequent wars, by no means a major conflict. Read 
his interpretation of the text: 

"The revelation does not inform us that the first 
symptom of this rebellion would exhibit anything 
very alarming in its appearance, but says, 'will 
eventually terminate in the death and misery of many 
souls.' 'Eventually,' (not directly or immediately), 
should the rebellion of that State lead on to a war 
more general in its nature, involving the whole na- 
tion in a formal revolution, not in the loss of a 
few, but in the 'death and misery of many souls.' " 



30 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

The War of the Rebellion, as it began in Charleston 
harbor, was not, at first, looked upon as a conflict of 
first magnitude. Indeed, President Lincoln, in his call 
for troops, required only ninety days service, evidently 
being persuaded that the rebellion would be successfully 
quelled within that time. Contrary to human opinions, 
however, the war dragged slowly and tragically through 
four fearful and harrowing years. It cost in treasure 
eight billions. It cost in American lives one million 
men. And to these two big items of^treasure and blood 
we may add that it has taken a full generation to wash 
the bitterness of the conflict out of the souls of the men 
and women of America. So, the initial war of itself, re- 
sulted in the "death and misery of many souls." 

5. "The Southern States shall be divided against 
the Northern States." 

The exact phrasing of this clause seems to depict the 
South as the aggressor in the oncoming conflict. If 
that were the intent of the prophecy it has ample verifi- 
cation in subsequent events. Sufficient proof thereof will 
be found in the great inaugural address of President 
Lincoln where he spoke thus, to the South: "You can 
have no conflict without yourselves being the aggres- 
sors." 

While rebellion and secession originated in the state 
of South Carolina, the same spirit instantly spread like 
a prairie fire throughout most of the cotton states. 

The action of South Carolina was followed, within 
six weeks, by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, 
Georgia, and Texas. "Delegates from six of these 'sov- 
ereign states' met at Montgomery, Alabama, February 4, 
1861. Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was chosen Presi- 
dent, and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia, Vice-Presi- 



And Their Fulfillment 31 




*f Stir: 



Wl/rfu, tu*f>&, Uffie, 

r^^r^^ *n*u^ £~*u^ 

' 5 

Facsimile of the Confederate Constitution. 
".4 tic? £/ie Southern States shall be. divided against the North- 
ern States" 




32 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

dent." A constitution was adopted which sanctioned 
slavery. A Confederate flag was adopted, known as the 
"stars and bars." . . . President Davis was author- 
ized to raise an army of 100,000 men and secure a loan 
of $15,000,000 to wage war upon the Northern States. 
. . . A committee of three was appointed and sent 
abroad to secure the friendship and alliance of Euro- 
pean courts." Secretaries Floyd and Thompson retained 
their positions in President Buchanan's Cabinet while 
"they were working openly for the cause of secession," 
using their exalted positions within the Union to bring 
about a tragic disunion. Members of Congress from 
the cotton states were zealously co-operating with their 
governors and others in directing and promoting the 
cause of secession. The Senators from Georgia, Ala- 
bama, Florida, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and 
Texas caucused in a committee room of the Senate, Jan- 
uary 5, 1861, and took action favoring the secession of 
their respective states and advised immediate severance 
of all political ties. Yet they retained their seats in the 
Senate until they had been advised of the passage of 
secession acts by their several states. 

"The South Carolina convention, which had taken 
the lead in the matter, and had on the 20th of De- 
cember passed the ordinance of secession, also adopt- 
ed resolutions for a convention of seceded states." 
The first of these resolutions was as follows: 

"First, that the conventions of the seceding slave- 
holding states of the United States unite with South 
Carolina, and hold a convention at Montgomery, 
Alabama, for the purpose of forming a Southern 
Confederacy." 



'Mr. Calhoun, during the proceedings of the 







BUILTFROftfl THE RUINS. 



Secession Banner displayed in the South 
Carolina Convention 



"Beginning at the Rebellion of Zouth Carolina." 



34 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

South Carolina convention, said: 'We have pulled 
a temple down that has been built three-quarters of 
a century; we must clear the rubbish away to recon- 
struct another. We are now houseless and homeless, 
and we must secure ourselves against storms.' 

"At this time the Legislature of New York passed 
the following resolution: 

"Whereas, the insurgent state of South Carolina, 
aftet seizing the post-office, custom-house, monies 
and fortifications of the Federal government, has, 
by firing into a vessel ordered by the government to 
convey troops and provisions to Fort Sumter, vir- 
tually declared war; and whereas, the forts and prop- 
erty of the United States government in Georgia, 
Alabama, and Louisiana, have been unlawfully 
seized with hostile intentions; and whereas, their 
senators in Congress avow and maintain their trea- 
sonable acts, Therefore — 

"Resolved, That the Legislature of New York is 
profoundly impressed with the value of the Union, 
and determined to preserve it unimpaired; that it 
greets with joy the recent firm, dignified, and pa- 
triotic special message of the President of the United 
States, and that we tender to him, through the 
chief magistrate of our own state, whatever aid in 
men or money that may be required to enable him 
to enforce the laws and uphold the authority of 
the Federal government; and that, in defense of 
the Union, which has conferred prosperity and hap- 
piness upon the American people, renewing the 
pledge given and redeemed by our fathers, we are 
ready to devote our fortunes, our lives and our 
sacred honor." — History of the Great Rebellion, by 
Thomas P. Kettel, 1865. 



And Their Fulfillment 35 

Thus the South not only assumed the offensive in the 
war, but in doing so organized a confederation or union 
of states, chose its officers, organized an army, and fi- 
nanced by various means the war it deliberately waged 
against the North. She thus became both instigator and 
aggressor — just as the prophecy had decreed more than 
twenty-eight years before. 

6. "The Southern States will call on other nations, 
even the nation of Great Britain/ 9 

Within six weeks after the secession of South Caro- 
lina, six other "sovereign states" had dissolved the ties 
that bound them to the Union. All of these states sent 
delegates to the convention held at Montgomery, Ala- 
bama, February 4, 1861, where they organized a new 
Confederacy. After adopting a constitution, electing 
officers, and attending to some other formalities, this 
convention at once authorized President Jefferson Davis 
to "appoint a committee of three, with impetuous Yancey 
of Alamaba as chairman," whose mission it was to go 
abroad and secure the friendship and alliance of Euro- 
pean courts. As the war proceeded the southern ports 
were very successfully blockaded by the northern navy, 
and thus the import trade of the confederacy suffered 
seriously. England depended upon the cotton from the 
South to keep her great cotton mills running. These 
circumstances gave high hope to the Confederacy that 
Great Britain would soon become an ally. In further- 
ance of these hopes, Messrs. Mason and Slidell were 
commissioned to France and England for the purpose 
of securing the friendly assistance of those two countries. 
The Trent affair has made this commission somewhat fa- 
mous in history. Men conspicuous in the affairs of 
Great Britain were free to express their sympathy for 



36 * Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

the southern cause. No less a person than the great 
Gladstone, then a Cabinet minister, in a speech at New- 
castle on October 7, 1862, had the frankness to say: 

"There is no doubt that Jefferson Davis and other 
leaders of the South have made an army; they are 
making, it appears, a navy; and they are making 
what is more than either, — a nation. . . . We 
may anticipate with certainty the success of the 
Southern States so far as their separation from the 
North is concerned." 

The various reverses of the Northern forces during 
the campaigns of 1862 led the English leaders to look 
for ultimate failure in the great attempt to restore the 
Union. The capitalists of the empire bought heavily of 
the Confederacy bonds. Something like $10,000,000, 
was thus wagered on the outcome of the controversy. 
England even went so far as to build battleships for 
the South. Two of these, the Florida and the Alabama, 
slipped away from Liverpool in March and July, 1862, 
and engaged themselves in the predatory pastime of 
preying on our commerce wherever it could be en- 
countered on the high seas. Two more ironclad rams 
were ready to leave the ways at the docks for similar pur- 
poses. Our minister to England at this juncture curtly 
advised Lord Russell, the Foreign Secretary, "It would 
be superflous in me to point out to your Lordship that 
this is war." This pointed note called a halt to British 
piracy and collusion with the South. 4 

With such encouraging circumstances as these in his 



4 The damage done, however, had afterwards to be adjusted 
and England paid for her meddling. She was adjudged guilty 
of violating the laws of neutrality by a commission of neutral 
selection and paid a fine of $15,500,000 as damages. 



And Their Fulfillment 37 

favor, Mason was making headway in his mission to 
England. Slidell was equally industrious on a similar 
mission across the channel. At a meeting he held with 
Emperor Napoleon III, in July, 1862, Mr. Slidell under- 
took to purchase with a hundred thousand bales of cot- 
ton, worth $12,500,000, the co-operation of the French 
navy to the extent, at least, of a fleet to break the block- 
ade of southern ports. Napoleon sought the aid of 
Great Britain and Russia in demanding that the Wash- 
ington government recognize the independence of the 
South. In this he failed. 

Offers of assistance were tendered Emperor Napoleon 
in the establishing of an empire in Mexico — a dream that 
might well awaken the spirit of conquest in any im- 
perial head. Under the guise of collecting honest debts 
this wiley monarch transported a "royal person" from 
Austria to Mexico and with the pomp of other imperial 
escorts placed Maximilian upon the wobbly throne of 
the empire of Mexico, which was to be resigned to Na- 
poleon in the event of the success of the southern cause. 
Plans were ripening, plots were hatching, and the perma- 
nent separation of our Union was all but an accom- 
plished fact in the minds of plotters and confederate 
"spy" diplomats like Slidell and Mason. The one thing 
necessary to success was the English navy. That could 
not be secured because England was at that particular 
time in her history ruled, not by her crown head, but by 
her people. And the unexcelled qualities of good Queen 
Victoria were gloriously revealed in that she was 
conscious of that great fact. She probably had as 
broad a vision and as deep an understanding of the 
future of the Anglo-Saxon strain as any person then 
living, says Mr. Ralph Page in his recent interesting 
volume on American Diplomacy. At any rate she is 



38 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 



reported to have met Napoleon's proposals with this 
flat statement: "You must understand that I shall 
sign no paper which means war with the United States." 
On account of the attitude of this great woman, the 
missions of Mason and Slidell completely failed. But 
through them the South did call on Great Britain and 
other nations for assistance in their unlawful undertak- 
ing. 

7. And the Southern States will call on other na- 
tions, even the nation of Great Britain, as it is 
called, and they [i. e., Great Britain and her al- 
lies] shall also call upon other nations, in order 
to defend themselves against other nations" 

This part of the prophecy obviously foretells a time 
when Great Britain should be either engaged in the 
diplomatic process of forming offensive and defensive 
alliances with other nations, or she would actually be 
at war and under stress of circumstances would be call- 
ing upon other nations to defend herself and her allies. 
This prediction need not at all apply to the War of the 
Rebellion as the prophecy distinctly speaks of wars in 
the plural that were to shortly come to pass — thus fore- 
casting a distinct group or series of wars. 

Subsequent to this time, Great Britain and other 
European nations began the formation of alliances which 
reached their final development within very recent years. 
They are described by the terms Triple Alliance and 
the Triple Entente. The two powerful groups stood 
practically thus: England, France and Russia; Germany, 
Austria-Hungary and Italy. The great war which broke 
out August, 1914, brought into conflict these two great 
alliances. Russia's standing both in the west and in the 
far-reaching east was vital to British interests. When she 



And Their Fulfillment 39 

was attacked the Entente was immediately aroused. The 
two great German armies were grinding their ways in 
both directions. One driving ruthlessly into Russia 
the other ferociously grinding through Belgium toward 
France. Great Britain was vitally effected by both lines 
of attack. Her reliance had been largely in her incom- 
parable navy and in the magnificent army of her ally, 
France. All the man power of the Entente was imme- 
diately summoned to the combat. The theatre of war en- 
larged. The consummate plans of the aggressors soon 
revealed the colossal objective — the absolute domina- 
tion of the world by the war lord of Europe. Italy was re- 
luctant. The fate of empires was already being decided. 
The fate of the world was soon to be determined. The 
Orient began to respond. America waited. Then it was 
that Great Britain called upon other nations. France 
joined in the call. Then Belgium. Each nation sent 
their commissions to this country and to other nations in 
order "to defend themselves against other nations." Fin- 
ally nineteen nations were united in their defense against 
the threatening invasions of the Triple Alliance. Never 
before in the history of warfare or diplomacy was there 
such a formation of alliances. Never before had Great 
Britain called so earnestly and so justifiably and effect- 
ively as in the years 1914, 1915 and 1916. And all this 
occurred within about fifty-five years from the opening 
of the series of wars prophecied by Joseph Smith. And 
what is still more remarkable, the entire procedure con- 
forms exactly to the prediction made by Joseph Smith, 
viz.: "they shall also call upon other nations, in order 
to defend themselves against other nations." A plurality 
of nations aligned and allied on both sides of the dead- 
ly conflict. One nation on a side, as is the case in most 
wars, would not have filled the requirements. It re- 



40 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

quired the two contending groups to vindicate this very 
extraordinary prophecy. Surely history hath affirmed 
in the minutest detail what prophetic inspiration asserted 
nearly a century before. 

3. "And then war shall be poured out upon all na- 
tions." 

The Prophecy reads thus: "The days will come that 
war will be poured out upon all nations." Associating 
this particular prediction with the other, "which will 
eventually terminate in the death and misery of many 
souls," we would naturally look for a culmination of 
events in the course of time. And it seems that the time 
has now arrived to describe the fulfillment of the strik- 
ing prophecy concerning a war of "all nations." We 
may now also compute the cost in the "death and misery 
of many souls." Since Prophets spoke the word of God 
to men there has not been uttered a prophecy of greater 
magnitude than this. The Old Testament fairly thunders 
with prophecies of "wars and rumors of wars." But 
there is, perhaps, nowhere in Holy Writ a prophecy that 
foretells a universal war. Perhaps the nearest approach 
to such a prediction is the one made by the Savior at 
the close of his ministry. He said: "For nation sha] 1 
rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and 
there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes 
in divers places." 

While these terms could mean many or few they un- 
questionably suggest the maximum rather than the 
minimum. Indeed, it appears that these two prophecies 
describe the same set of circumstances — the same events 
in human history. At any rate the prophecy of Joseph 
Smith described a war of the greatest possible magnitude 
in the term "all nations." That term has but one mean- 






/ 



a>°. 



i*r??i &'£j <s*j-&./£J A .&-<z4<i~%~!*.A^>;-j 



f c&£r ~&?v Jfar &&+&& • a^ri^o sp9**4'&»y> <*t? 



Zc^jkXJ C*>^£& dbr-ryzJZ-, /&&£ s^-tusiJ c^i^O $~Zs J 







&» cXz t* e*J&*C : 4 < t pfc-y - ^/^^ 






fc«^ 49 so. i$r\ 

I &SHJU ffert £*m& ttA*40' do fe-o~t*s> cAL> +-ccXT ttfcr*^ O^O #?JcZSr*«A. 
| CwrPC c-'fr ' -SSis^C G*->^i4^ ic £ Q44- a^tuj v>?i<±>n>y /ZA*f^l^ a/'dkix* 
&£-4-£6< l~c±ci ufe a,* CL4sruftr' ffe^ks ?T7 n^ttta, £»*£t> tfAiJKs £e, Onto** 

Un&> faaj-rfcA-Cs ttLmpdcKJ; a^-e,- 6k?t^Ls ^H^-i^s £c&trryul/ *&&&&>& 

&££+*&{ &s?i4C' /JU4& i^J-r //is //u&> ~S{<-J,^Oj tettJC' /t*f -£i&*>-4£<f/iuUify /Tics -'4 

>ft4ML*>e*d y ao-net-' SAc^ /^i*«> &,?i4ts -f-cc>-t'c6 ftyA/i'c'Ke, , &6te, v^it*^^k 



■'■■'■■■- v /: A '^ - < *--jj:~* j~* • "/ifcrvai 

The Prophecy on War photographed from Volume One "A, 1 
Manuscript History of the Church, pp. 244-5. 



42 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

ing, viz. : a universal war. And such a war, the only one 
of such proportions in all history began in Europe in 
August, 1914. In that incomparably great conflict nine- 
teen established nations assembled their entire human 
power for the terrific contest. Fifteen on the one side, 
four on the other. Twelve other nations declared war 
against one or another of the belligerents. Of the re- 
maining fifty nations of the earth five severed diplomatic 
relations with one or more of the contending peoples and 
all the remaining nations were diitctly and seriously af- 
fected by this all-engulfing cataclysm. War reached 
them all on the high seas. There is not a nation on earth 
today that has not paid, in some degree, its proportion 
of the cost of this great war in treasure, human woe or 
human lives. And for years to come will they continue 
to pay. Here are the terms in figures never before 
dreamed of as possible in military undertakings: 

At one time there were mustered into service and act- 
ually on the seas or on battle fields sixty million men, 
all of whom were at war! Of that enormous number 
eight million are now dead. Seven million others are 
maimed and impaired so that one-fourth of that tragic 
mass of humanity is a permanent wreck. Add to these 
colossal figures the millions who died from hunger, dis- 
ease and massacre, back in their home lands, and the 
figures become appalling. 

The following is from the Literary Digest for June 
26, 1920: 

"Forty million persons are not living today who 
might be alive had there been no world-war. Of 
these some ten millions were lost on the battle 
fields. These figures were given to the London 
correspondent of the New York Tribune by the 



And Their Fulfillment 43 

Society for the Study of the Social Consequences of 
the War, a Copenhagen organization, and are based 
upon personal enquiries into the changes in popu- 
lation. The report gives not only the actual war- 
casualties, but the decline of the birth-rate, also the 
remarkable change in the proportion of the sexes. 
In the ten countries mentioned below the surplus 
female population has risen from about five mil- 
ion to about fifteen million, and the decline of the 
birth-rate represents 38 per cent of the normal. Sta- 
tistics show the total loss of life to have been more 
than thirty-five million persons, but the report de- 
clares that 'if the losses of Turkey, Greece, Portugal, 
Montenegro, the United States, the British Domin- 
ions, and other non-European belligerents and colon- 
ies were included, then the total loss to the world 
must be put down at forty million lives.' In some in- 
stances, such as small states, it was impossible to ob- 
tain accurate data, so careful computations based up- 
on data from other countries were made. And in Rus- 
sia, where the fighting is raging even at this late 
date, and where hunger, cold, disease, and battle 
are taking their daily toll of lives, conservative cal- 
culations of the losses up to the middle of 1919 
were made." (Statistics of war-casualties and changes 
in birth and death-rates are then tabulated.) 

Turning from the price in human life to the cost 
in treasure, we are left as a bankrupt world. The 
world's debts are today two hundred and sixty-five bil- 
lion dollars, or about one hundred and fifty dollars 
per capita as compared with twenty-seven dollars be- 
fore this war. How long this debt will hang on the 
world's neck like a veritable millstone no one can tell. 



44 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

But the burden is there for a long, long time. Surely 
here is a sum total of human woe and misery well worthy 
the prophecy of Joseph Smith that these wars, which 
were shortly to come to pass, would "eventually term- 
inate in the death and misery of many souls." 

THE "THUS" AND "THEN" DISCOVERY. 

In the 1851 print of this Revelation on War, two er- 
rors occurred which changed the context of the prophecy. 
One we pass as of little consequence. The other, how- 
ever, is of great importance for the reason that it robbed 
the prophecy of a most remarkable significance with re- 
spect to the time of the "war of all nations," or the 
world-war. The original print reads: "and the Southern 
States will call on other nations, even the nation of Great 
Britain, as it is called, and they shall also call upon 
other nations, in order to defend themselves against other 
nations; and thus war shall be poured out upon all na- 
tions," etc. It was discovered by the historians of the 
Church in 1902 that the earliest manuscript History of 
the Church, the one written under the direction of Joseph 
Smith during his life and ministry, rendered that sen- 
tence: "then war shall be poured out upon all nations," 
etc. This revelation now appears as originally in the of- 
ficial History of the Church (Vol. I, 1902.) It is note- 
worthy that this significant correction was made, not at 
the time of the outbreak of the World War, nor at any 
time subsequently, but twelve years prior thereto. 

As we construe this prophecy, in its original render- 
ing, it was invested with a remarkable value in that it 
foretold, specifically, when the universal war was to oc- 
cur, viz., when they [i. e., Great Britain and her allies] 
should "call on other nations in order to defend them- 
selves against other nations." 



And Their Fulfillment 45 

Never did Great Britain sue for assistance as she did 
after August 1st, 1914. Up to thw : time in the world's 
history were we not frequently reminded by a familiar 
refrain that "Brittania rules the waves?" And was it not 
a common saying that "the sun never sets en the British 
Empire"? These very boas.s resolved Germany to con- 
test British supremacy on sea as well as on land. Then, 
for the first time in her history, it has been asserted, 
England plead and sued, and intrigued for aid. She 
first called upon her colonies. On August first the Can- 
adian government offered 10,000 volunteers; on the 
third the Canadian reserves sailed for England; on the 
fourth mobilization began in the Dominion; on the ninth 
England accepted 1,000,000 bags of flour from the same 
source; and on the same day the Canadian Parliament 
endorsed England's participation in the war; on the 
twenty-fifth the mobilization of the second Canadian 
army was commenced; on the thirty -first, Alberta and 
Quebec contributed vast food supplies; less than a 
month later, 32,000 troops sailed for England along with 
the cadets of the Royal Military College. 

On September nineteenth, Mr. Lloyd-George appealed 
to the Welsh for recruits; Asquith and Redmond ap- 
pealed to the Irish for aid; and on the 26th the Indian 
Moslems manifested their loyalty to Great Britain. On 
September 5th, the Allies signed an agreement that none 
should make peace without the agreement of all, thereby 
tightening the bonds of their alliance. In France similar 
progress was being made in securing the aid of colonials 
and other countries. Many Americans were enlisted 
there to fight for France; foreign volunteers were mob- 
ilizing in Paris; and the services of Anglo-American 
Rough Riders were accepted. 

At this particular crisis the Allies began to seek aid 



46 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

from foreign nations. England, with a desperation never 
before manifested in her demeanor, sent important com- 
missions to this country to negotiate loans, contract for 
food supplies and ammunitions, and to enlist the mili- 
tary aid of the United States. She sought similar aid at 
the hands of her ally, Japan, as well as China. She 
finally won Italy over into action. These aid-soliciting 
commissions came not from England alone, but from 
France and Belgium as well. So desperate did the situ- 
ation soon become that England, France and Italy re- 
sorted to the intrigue of secret treaty and actually bar- 
tered with Japan for her more effective aid, and each 
signed an agreement to take from Germany the Shantung 
Province, with its 30,000,000 people, which she had vio- 
lently and wrongfully stolen frOxU China, and turn the 
same over to Japan as reward for services to be ren- 
dered, 

In this extraordinary manner they, Great Britain 
and her allies, called upon other nations for aid and 
then the world war occurred precisely as Joseph Smith 
had predicted four score years before: "and they shall 
also call upon other nations, in order to defend them- 
selves against other nations, and then shall war be poured 
out upon all nations" 

9. "And thus with the sword, and by bloodshed, the 
inhabitants of the earth shall mourn; and with 
famine and plague and earthquakes" 

We have recapitulated the toll of the sword and blood- 
shed under another heading. Here we propose to show 
that famine and plague have reaped their grim harvest 
of death as seldom before in the earth. 

No sooner had the great World War been fairly be- 
gun than the whole world was more or less placed on 



And Their Fulfilhnent 47 

rations. "Bread will win the war," was the slogan of pa- 
triotic self-denial. All kinds of substitutes and subter- 
fuges were resorted to to sustain the ever-increasing 
armies of the world. The populace at home was im- 
poverished in the belligerent countries to keep the men 
at the front in fighting trim. The aged and the iifant 
died from under-nourishment. Prices advanced and 
the poor could not buy the wholesome food their bodies 
demanded and their burden of toil deserved. Nation 
after nation became dependent on importation for food 
supplies. Transportation became both hazardous and 
inadequate. The close of the war, if not before, found 
nearly all European and Asiatic nations industrially de- 
moralized. Prices still soared because of the universal 
shortage, and the greed of the hoarder and the profiteer 
sent them still higher. The purchasing power of the coi.i 
of the realm declined. Political and industrial dis- 
turbances have been on the increase until famine today 
stalks through many lands. 

10. Famine. 

The following appeared in the daily papers only re- 
cently : 

"starvation stalking like spectre throughout 
cities of moscow and petrograd. — people 
dying by thousands for want of nourishing 
food which many are unable to obtain, 
owing to scarcity. 

"By John Clayton. 
"Chicago Tribune. — Salt Lake Tribune Cable. 

"Paris, June 26, [1920]. Moscow and Petrograd 
were starving when I left there in May. Not in the 



48 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

figurative sense of the word, but literally. Cities and 
peoples are dying for lack of food. For more than 
two years the great bulk of the people have not had 
enough to keep body and soul together. Bread that 
is half straw, dirty, sour, unpalatable, has been the 
chief diet of the Russian city dweller — bread, and 
tea made of birch leaves. 

' 'You cannot understand it,' said Kibalshic, one of 
the young anarchists working with the government in 
Petrograd, 'until you have been here some time. You 
know the people are hungry, that even you, with 
your supply of money, are sometimes hungry. But 
you do not see your friends dropping out quietly, 
one by one, almost from day to day.' 

"daily toll is heavy. 

"Dead from starvation, they are, from lack of 
food and lack of resistance to disease. Petrograd's 
population has been reduced to the half-million 
mark by hunger. Workmen will not stay in the city 
when they find better conditions in their villages. 
Those who do stay die sooner or later. In Moscow 
it is the same thing. Moscow, once a city of 2,000,- 
000 now has a population of about 1,000,000, and 
this number is being reduced daily. Of the million, 
perhaps 10 per cent are able to get food in addition 
to the government ration. They include families 
formerly wealthy who still have valuables to sell the 
grafting government official and the speculator. 

"For these there are three large open markets 
where one can buy white bread, butter, a little bacon, 
horse flesh, and once in a while beef and vegetables, 
veal and other meat. A pound of white bread costs 
twice the daily wage with bonuses of the skilled 



And Their Fulfillment 49 

workman, a pound of horse-flesh two-and-a-half 
times; a pound of other meat four times; and a 
pound of butter or bacon, five times. 

"I dined one evening in Moscow with a doctor, 
formerly in comfortable circumstances, and now re- 
duced to the starvation rations permitted the 'ex- 
bourgeoisis' by the government, a ration half that 
of a workman. This family has sold practically 
everything it owns. 

"The doctor once had an excellent medical li- 
brary, and that had been the last thing to go. But 
his children must not go hungry. They served me 
a special dinner that evening — kasha (any kind of 
cooked cereal,) fish heads, black bread, and tea made 
from bread crumbs. It was the first time in days fish 
or meat had graced their table. But we, in the gov- 
ernment guest houses had meat every day. 

"meat unfit to eat. 

"And the meat they do get at intervals ! Day after 
day I watched it being brought into the city in un- 
covered wagons. Dirty, lean, often putrified car- 
casses of horses long since past the age of usefulness 
and fit only for the glue factory. Such flesh as this 
turned into human food! Twenty, thirty sometimes 
fifty loads of it are taken to the central distribu- 
tion point for the public kitchens or for issue on ra- 
tion cards. 

The normal ration for the working man for a 
month would provide sufficient food for perhaps 
six days — that for the brain worker for perhaps four 
days. 



50 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

" 'God deliver us from another winter such as the 
last,' said one man to me. 

"If we were forced to endure again the suffer- 
ing we have just past through, none but the commis- 
sars will be alive when spring comes next year." 

The Russians are not the only sufferers from famine. 
Millions of Armenians have actually died for food. And 
yet are there others. 

11. Plagues. 

While the hope of the world was running high be- 
cause of the prospects of peace, a disease broke out in 
certain centers and rapidly spread from land to land. 
The grim reaper gathered in of the flower of all coun- 
tries as many in some lands as had fallen by the 
sword. In our own favored land more fell by the plague 
than by the war. In both cases the young, the promising 
and the fair, the heads of young, growing families were 
the ones to fall. In January of the present year the fol- 
lowing disquieting dispatch came from London, via the 
Universal Press: 

"London, January 24. — Official admission that 
the most mysterious disease germ of the ages— the 
influenza bacillus — has defeated the world's great- 
est scientists was made to Universal Service today by 
Sir George Newman, chief medical officer of the 
British health ministry. 

"The world sits powerless before the greatest de- 
vastator of history unable to prevent or cure the 
dread plague, said Sir George. Britain will be in 
the throes of a new epidemic in February. We have 
made all possible preparations to combat it, but we 
are not able to do much." 



And Their Fulfillment 51 

Sir George was not surprised at the alarming reports 
from Chicago, New York and Tokio, declaring that it 
was the expected natural recrudescence of the world wave 
of death plague. 

"This mysterious disease," he added, "killed nearly 
100,000 persons in the British Isles in 1918 and 1919. 
We were unable to prevent its spread then and we are 
in the same position now, despite the most searching 
investigation by the world's best brains. One can truth- 
fully say that, so far, medical science has been de- 
feated." 



52 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 



A Mighty People in the Rocky Mountains 

"Westward the course of empire takes its way; 
Time's noblest offspring is the last" 
— Bishop Berkley, verses on the "Prospects of Planting 
Arts and Learning in America." 

Small value was placed upon the great west by the 
men of affairs in the first decades of the past century. 
Great statesmen were referring to that region as the 
"worthless wilderness of the west." Even so gifted a 
man as Daniel Webster is accredited with an appraise- 
ment of the west which betrays, in the light of more re- 
cent developments, a most remarkable lack of vision or 
foresight. In 1803 the great north-west region was 
acquired by the Louisiana Purchase and was soon after- 
wards (1804-1805) explored by the famous Lewis and 
Clark. Their report awakened intense interest in the 
new and romantic country, and finally brought about 
the establishment there of trading and military posts. 
These in turn encouraged exploration and adventure 
in the vast unknown region. 

By 1820, if not earlier, English and American fur 
hunters had traced their arduous trails all the way 
from the British possessions in the north to Mexico in 
the south. These early frontiersmen were often in the 
lucrative employment of the famous Hudson Bay Co., 
or the North American Fur Co. They were among the 
very first white men to become, even in a small way, 
acquainted with this great territory. The establish- 
ment of mail routes and the building of forts were con- 
templated by the government with territorial acquisi- 



And Their Fulfillment 53 

tions as the apparent objective. Daniel Webster is known 
to have been opposed to this western expansion scheme. 
An alleged statement of his has found its place in our 
western literature, having been given full recognition 
as to authorship by more than one historian. Professor 
Lyman, of Whitman University, in his history of the 
Columbia River country refers to the statement as having 
been made on the floor of the U. S. Senate. The al- 
leged quotation reads thus: 

"What do we want with this vast, worthless area? 
This region of savages and wild beasts, of deserts, 
and shifting sands, and whirlwinds of dust, of cactus 
and prairie dogs? To what use could we ever hope 
to put these great deserts, or those endless mountain 
ranges, impenetrable and covered to the very base 
with snow? And what could we ever hope to do 
with the western coast of 3,000 miles, rock-bound, 
cheerless, uninviting, and not a harbor on it? Mr. 
President, I will never vote one cent from the pub- 
lic treasury to place the Pacific Coast one inch near- 
er to Boston than it is." 1 



1 Congressman Mays from Utah, at the suggestion of the 
writer, endeavored to ascertain the genuineness of the above 
extract. Under date of March, 2, 1920, the Congressman re- 
ported as follows: "I have delayed answering your letter of the 
13th until I could have some search made of the Record 
with a view of ascertaining whether or not the passage quoted 
by me could be discovered among the Congressional debates. I 
asked the Record Clerk to make a careful search and he has 
reported that while he found many statements from Webster 
indicating that he was opposed to the extention of the boundary 
of the United States westward, he has not found the exact pas- 
sage. . . . The Record Clerk tells me that in those days 
they had not developed the science of stenography to such an 
extent that verbatim reports of speeches could be made, but 
that the matter of reporting the debates was in the hands cf 
certain newspapers who undertook to make fairly accurate re- 
ports." 



54 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

Another appraisement of the west, from an altogether, 
reliable source, however, affords still more striking 
short-sightedness upon the part of its author. There 
was great opposition to the holding of the "western wild- 
erness" in the Union. This was voiced in 1825, by 
Senator Dickerson, of New Jersey, who said, in debate: 

"But is this Territory of Oregon ever to become a 
State? Never. . . . The distance . . . that 
a member of Congress of this State of Oregon would 
be obliged to travel in coming to the seat of govern- 
ment and returning home would be 9,300 miles. . . 
If he should travel at the rate of 30 miles per 
day, it would require 306 days. Allow for Sun- 
days, 44, it would amount to 350 days. This would 
allow the member a fortnight to rest himself at 
Washington before he should commence his journey 
home. This traveling would be hard, as a greater 
part of the way is exceedingly bad, and a portion 
of it over rugged mountains, where Lewis and Clark 
found several feet of snow in the latter part of 
June. Yet, a young able-bodied senator might travel 
from Oregon to Washington and back once a year; 
but he could do nothing else. It would be more 
expeditious, however, to come by water around Cape 
Horn, or to pass through Behring Strait, round the 
north coast of this continent to Baffin Bay, thence 
through Davis Strait to the Atlantic, and so on to 
Washingon. It is true, this passage is not yet dis- 
covered, except upon the maps, but it will be as 
soon as Oregon shall be a State." 2 



2 See guide book of the Western United States, Part B. The 
Overland Route, U. S. Geol. Survey, Geo. Otis Smith, director, 
1916. This guide is to be found in the Overland Limited trains 
of the U. P. System. It proved strikingly amusing to the writer, 



And Their Fulfillment 55 

In striking contrast with these two estimates placed 
upon the great west by men in a position to reflect the 
best opinions of their day, we will place the Prophecy 
of Joseph Smith concerning what he saw his people be- 
come in the "worthless wilderness of the west." 

Under date of August 6, 1842, the following entry 
appears in the official History of the Church : 

"Saturday, 6. Passed over the river to Montrose, 
Iowa, in company with General Adams, Colonel 
Brewer, and others, and witnessed the installation of 
the officers of the Rising Sun Lodge, Ancient York 
Masons, at Montrose, by General James Adams, Dep- 
uty Grand-Master of Illinois. While the Deputy 
Grand Master was engaged in giving the requisite in- 
structions to the Master-elect, I [Joseph Smith] had 
a conversation with a number of brethren in the 
shade of the building on the subject of our persecu- 
tions in Missouri, and the constant annoyance which 
has followed us since we were driven from that 
state. / prophesied that the Saints ivould continue 



reading it as he did, while gliding over the great "western 
wilderness" at the rate of 50 miles per hour in a handsomely 
equipped observation car, and bored with the tediousness of the 
journey, at that. And, as if to accentuate the ridiculousness 
of the forecast of Senator Dickerson, as he "dipped into the 
future" the writer had laid aside the daily papers of July, 1919, 
announcing the success of Alcock and Brown in thair flight 
across the Atlantic in a machine in sixteen hours twelve min- 
utes and the dirigible U 34 which had sailed through the over- 
hanging Atlantic clouds and rain from Halifax to Scotland in 
seventy-five hours. These achievements of the twentieth century- 
air-men made the "able-bodied senator" with his "fortnight's rest 
before returning home again" — "traveling 30 miles per day" — 
a grotesque and archaic picture, indeed. 



56 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

to suffer much affliction and would be driven to 
the Rocky Mountains, many would apostatize, oth- 
ers would be put to death by our persecutors or lose 
their lives in consequence of exposure or disease, 
and some of you will live to go and assist in making 
settlements and build cities, and see the Saints be- 
come a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky 
Mountains." 

That Joseph Smith had no private source of informa- 
tion concerning this western country is apparent to all 
students of the heroic story of the "winning of the west." 
It was humanly impossible for him to foretell the possi- 
bilities of a country so vaguely conceived and of which 
there was such meagre knowledge. Here is a glimpse of 
the real situation regarding the knowledge of the west in 
Joseph Smith's time: 

General Granville M. Dodge, chief engineer of the 
Union Pacific during the period of construction, in his 
eleven large volumes, says, in speaking of the Overland 
Trail : 

"This route was made by the buffalo, next used by 
the Indians, then by the fur traders, next by the Mor- 
mons, and then by the overland immigrants to Cali- 
fornia and Oregon. It was known as the great Platte 
Valley route. On this trail, or close to it, were built 
the Union and Central Pacific railroads to Califor- 
nia and the Oregon Short Line branch of the Union 
Pacific to Oregon. Its history as a definite route 
seems to have begun in 1804, when Lewis and Clark 
visited and described the locality that became the 
eastern terminus. A fur trading company sent out 
by John Jacob Astor, in 1810, which founded Asto- 



^ 1 Copyright Securer!.] 

"HISTORY OF JOSEPH SMXIH~ 

July, 1842. 

An earthquake was recently felt in Dumblane! 
Cathedral, near Comrie, Scotland. 

Monday, August 1. — A most disgraceful riot 
is reported to have coirmifi ced in Philadelphia, 
between the colored and white people, which 
continued three or four days. 

-Wednesday, 3.* — In the city, transacting a 
rnriety of business in company with General 
James Adams and others. Bi igadier General 
Wilson Law elected Major General of the Nau-j 
vbo Legion (by a smalt majority over Lyman] 
Wig htY in p!uc t> of J. C Bennett cashiered. 



} Saturday, 6.— Pa-sed over the river to Mon- 
trose, Iowa, in company with General Adams, 
Colonel Brewer, and others, and witnessed the 
installation of the officers of the Rising Sun 
I Lodge of Ancient York Masons, at Montrose, by 
General James Adams, Deputy Grand Blaster of 
Illinois. While the Deputy Grand Master was 
} fcapged in giving the requisite instructions to the | 
blaster elect, I had a conversation with a number of j 
brethren huhe shade of the building on the subject I 
of oar persecutions in Missouri, and the eou^tant ! 
annoyance which has followed us since we v^erej 
drire a from that State. I pmpheeied tint the; 
saints would continue to ruffer much i . illietioti ; 
find would be driven to the Rocky At ouniains, | 
many would apostatize, o« hers would be put to ;| 
: tieath by our persecutors, or los"! their, lives In 
\ consequence of exposure or (iise;ise 5 and some of 
| jou will live to iro and -assist i;i r^ *;* k i n rr sett'iv j 
! wents and build cities, and see the saints become j 
. * mighty people in the midst of the Ilucky Mouh- j 
kins/ 

Prophecy of Joseph Smith concerning the Saints becoming "a 
mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains," taken from 
the Deseret News of November 7, 1855. 



58 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

ria, Ore., at the mouth of the Columbia River, the 
following year, returned by a route which had never 
before been traversed, but which corresponded essen- 
tially with that later known as the Oregon Trail. 
Astor had planned a line of trading posts extending 
from the Great Lakes to the Pacific, the Sandwich 
Islands, and China, but the war of 1812 put a stop to 
his schemes. About 1824, William H. Ashley and 
Etienne Provost [Note the origin of two well known 
Utah names, viz., Ashley and Provo], of the Rocky 
Mountain Fur Trading Company, discovered South 
Pass, which made permanent the mountain-crossing 
route, of the Oregon Trail, and later attracted the 
Union Pacific locating parties." 

General Dodge says further: 

"In 1843 the pathfinder, General John C. Fremont, 
began to spy out the military way across the West, 
and the same year the Oregon pioneers took the first 
wagons westward to the Pacific. The trail that be- 
gan with the journey of those early pioneers was 
widened and deepened by the wheels of the Mormons 
in 1847, and when the herald of the first California 
Golden Age sent forth a trumpet call in 1849, heard 
around the world, the trail was finished from Great 
Salt Lake across the mountains to the sea." 

Fremont's great exploration expedition was conducted 
in 1842 and 1843. His remarkable topographical map 
describing the daring and intelligent explorer's journey 
bears the date of 1843. On page 160 of his report, pub- 
lished by the government, March 3rd, 1845, he cautious- 
ly gives this information concerning the country: 

"Taking leave at this point of the waters of Bear 
River, and of the Geographical Basin which encloses 



And Their Fulfillment 59 

the system of rivers and creeks which belong to the 
Great Salt Lake, and which so richly deserves a future 
detailed and ample exploration, I can say of it, in 
general terms, that the bottoms of this river [Bear] 
and some of the creeks which I saw, form a natural 
resting and recruiting station for travelers, now and 
in all time to come. The bottoms are extensive; 
water excellent; timber sufficient; the soil good, and 
well adapted to the grains and grasses, suited to such 
an elevated region. A military post, and a civilized 
settlement, would be of great value here; and cattle 
and horses would do well where grass and salt so 
much abound. The lake will furnish exhaustless sup- 
plies of salt. All the mountain sides are covered 
with a valuable nutritious grass, called bunch grass, 
from the form in which it grows, and has a second 
growth in the fall. The beasts of the Indians were 
fat upon it; our own found it a good subsistence; 
and its quantity will sustain any amount of cattle, 
and make this truly a bucolic region." 

On page 276 of the same work, General Fremont gives 
a partial description of that region of country lying 
west of Salt Lake Valley and extending through the 
western part of what is now the State of Utah, through 
Nevada and over into the Sierra Nevada, towards Cali- 
fornia, known as the Great Basin. 

"Of its interior little is known. It is called a 
desert, and, from what I saw of it, sterility may be 
its prominent characteristic; but where there is so 
much water there must be some oasis. The great 
river, and the great lake, reported, may not be equal 
to the report; but where there is so much snow, there 
must be streams; and where there is no outlet, there 



60 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

must be lakes to hold the accumulated waters, or 
sands to swallow them up. In this eastern part of 
the Basin, Sevier, Utah, and Great Salt Lakes [note 
the names applied to these bodies of water at that 
early date — 1842-3], and the rivers and creeks fall- 
ing into them, we know there is good soil, and good 
grass, adapted to civilized settlements." 

In making his survey of the Fremont Island, General 
Fremont and his party thought themselves the first to 
explore the lake and its islands. This interesting medi- 
tation was recorded in his journal while making the sur- 
vey: 

"We felt pleasure in remembering that we were 
the first who, in the traditionary annals of the coun- 
try, had visited the islands, and broken, with the 
cheerful sound of human voices, the long solitude of 
the place." 

It might also be observed that the description of the 
Bear River country was made on the very date that 
Joseph Smith made his prophecy concerning his people 
going to the "midst of the Rocky Mountains." So, it was 
impossible for the Prophet to be in possession of Fre- 
mont's estimate of a meagre part of the great west as 
early as 1842. The report was not published until three 
years afterwards. 

That Joseph Smith and his associates contemplated 
migration with their people to the west is well known to 
students of Church history. But the idea of making 
their abiding place here did not take definite shape until 
after this prediction. Then it became more assured than 
a plan or a policy, — it was a divine decree to them. It 
was their destiny. 



And Their Fulfillment 61 

That the Mormon leaders subsequently had access to 
the reports and maps of General Fremont there is also 
ample evidence. In a letter written to Joseph Smith by 
Orson Hyde, dated April 26th, 1844, at Washington, D. 
C, where he and Parley P. Pratt were endeavoring to se- 
cure governmental aid in the migration to the west, Mr. 
Hyde makes this report on the advice of Senator Stephen 
A. Douglas with respect to the great westward move of 
the Latter-day Saints: 

"We have this day had a long conversation with 
Judge Douglas. He is ripe for Oregon and Califor- 
nia. He said he would resign his seat in Congress if 
he could command the force that Mr. Smith could, 
and would be on the march to the country in a 
month. . . . 

"Judge Douglas says he would equally as soon go 
to the country without an act of Congress as with; 
and in five years a noble state might be formed ; and 
if they would not receive us into the Union, we would 
have a government of our own." 

Regarding the maps and other descriptive matter per- 
taining to the country the letter continues: 

"Judge Douglas has given me a map of Oregon, 
and also a report on the exploration of the country 
lying between the Missouri River and the Rocky 
Mountains on the line of the Kansas and the great 
Platte Rivers, by Lieut. J. C. Fremont, of the corps 
of Topographical Engineers. On receiving it I ex- 
pressed a wish that Mr. Smith could see it. Judge 
Douglas says, 'It is a public document, and I will 
frank it to him.' I accepted his offer, and the book 



62 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

will be forthcoming to you. The people are so eager 
for it here, that they have stolen it out of the library. 
The author is Mr. Benton's son-in-law (John C. Fre- 
mont). Judge Douglas borrowed it from Mr. Ben- 
ton. I was not to tell any one in this city where I 
got it. The book is a most valuable document to any 

one contemplating a journey to Oregon 

Judge Douglas says he can direct Mr. Smith to sev- 
eral gentlemen in California who will be able to give 
him any information on the state of affairs in that 
country : and when he returns to Illinois, he will visit 
Mr. Smith." 

The journal of Heber C. Kimball affords reliable in- 
formation on this interesting subject: 

"Nauvoo Temple, December 31st, 1845. President 
Young and myself are superintending the operations 
of the day, examining maps with reference to select- 
ing a location for the Saints west of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, and reading the various works which have been 
written and published by travelers in those regions." 
(See "Whitney's History of Utah," page 239.) 

These valuable documents undoubtedly were of great 
assistance to the Mormon pioneers in making their dif- 
ficult journey out west some two years later. But that 
they had any effect upon the prophetic declaration of 
Joseph Smith, no one can claim. It was impossible, 
made so by a period of two or three years. Perhaps 
General Fremont's reports were as optimistic as any that 
could be obtained on the subject. After the great mi- 
gration westward was begun, all manner of discouraging 
reports greeted the band of pioneers while on their 



And Their Fulfillment 63 

journey, even down to the end. On June 21st, just one 
month before the first company reached Salt Lake Val- 
ley, they were told by Major Moses Harris, at Pacific 
Springs, that the Valley of the Great Salt Lake was sandy 
and destitute of timber and vegetation, excepting sage- 
brush." 

On June 28th, they were met by the famous Colonel 
James Bridger, at the fort that takes his name. Along 
with much information given by the old scout he ven- 
tured the consolatory advice that it would be unwise to 
"bring a large colony into the Great Basin until it had 
been proven that grain could be raised there." He said 
that he would give a thousand dollars for the first ear 
of corn ripened in the Great Salt Lake Valley. 

In the light of these facts, though very superficially 
set forth, does not the prophecy of Joseph Smith stand 
out as something infinitely superior to the wisdom and 
foresight of man? His prediction runs directly contrary 
to the judgment of well informed men, men who were ac- 
credited with superior foresight and intelligence. It even 
defied and ignored the judgment and advice of men fa- 
miliar with the country by years of residence in it. 

The value, as a prophecy, must be determined by the 
fact that it was made and publicly known a reasonable 
time prior to the event it foretold. The earliest printed 
publication of this prophecy, known to the writer, is to 
be found in the Deseret News, in 1852. It was published 
in its regular order as the History of the Church ap- 
peared in that paper. We have not had access to the 
original record as kept by the Prophet, containing this 
remarkable prophecy. We have, however, irrefutable ev- 
idence which fixes the date of the prophecy some years 
before the Saints even started west. As evidence of the 
highest value we refer to the diary of Anson Call, who 



64 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

was present at the time the prophecy was made. We 
submit an extract from the diary, which was placed in 
the hands of the writer by the courtesy of Mr. Israel Call, 
of Bountiful, Utah, a son of the pioneer of Davis County. 
This diary of Anson Call was commenced at Nauvoo, in 
1839, and appears to have been composed at intervals, 
and not written up daily as is the practice of a few di- 
arists. Consequently, intervening events should be veri- 
fied as to accuracy of dates. In this way we may ac- 
count for an error in the date of the record of the inci- 
dent under consideration. Anson Call has the event un- 
der date of 1843. On August 6th, 1843, Joseph Smith 
was in Nauvoo, and, though indisposed, attended meet- 
ings, as it was Sunday. The record of the event, as 
made by Mr. Call, conforms so faithfully in every de- 
tail, excepting the date, that there exists no doubt as to 
the identity of the one event in both records. The en- 
try of Mr. Call is as follows: 

"On the 14th of July [1843], in company with 
about 50 or 100 of the brethren, we crossed the river 
to Montrose to be present at the installment of a 
lodge of the Masonic order, viz.: 'The Rising Sun.' 
Whilst together Joseph, who was with us, told us of 
many things that should transpire in the mountains. 
After drinking a draught of ice-water, he said breth- 
ren this water tastes much like the crystal streams 
that are running in the Rocky Mountains which some 
of you will participate of. There are some of those 
standing here that will perform a great work in that 
land — pointing to Shadrack Roundy and a number 
of others whom I have forgotten. There is Anson, he 
shall go and assist in building cities from one end 
of the country to the other, and shall perform as 



And Their Fulfillment 65 

great work as has ever been done by man so that the 
nations of the earth shall be astonished, and many of 
them will be gathered in that land and assisting in 
building cities and temples and Israel shall be made 
to rejoice, but before you see this day you will pas? 
through the scenes that are but little understood by 
you. This people shall be made to mourn. Multi- 
tudes will die, many will apostatize." 

In making record of this occurrence Joseph Smith said, 
Today I prophesied." It was not a conjecture, nor a 
mere prognostication. It was not a vague, unintelligible 
muttering, clothed in a dark and obscure symbolism such 
as characterizes the alleged manifestations of spiritism 
and other musty and delusive occult manifestations. It 
was not spoken in secrecy and carefully concealed in 
fear of its failing of fulfillment. It was proclaimed in 
the presence of fifty or a hundred men. It was prompt- 
ly recorded in the annals of the Church, and in the 
natural process of publication it was "committed to 
the immortal custody of the press." 

2. "The Saints ivould continue to suffer much afflic- 
tion." 

Two days after the prophecy was made, Joseph Smith 
was arrested "on a warrant issued by Governor Carlin, 
. . . founded on a requisition from Governor Reyn- 
olds of Missouri, upon the affidavit of ex-Governor 
Boggs, complaining of said Smith as 'being an accessory 
before the fact,' to assault with intent to kill, made by 
one Orrin P. Rockwell on Lilburn W. Boggs, on the 
night of the sixth day of May, A. D. 1842." 

This was but one of a long series of arrests which 



66 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

were farcical and illegal as well as impotent and 
ridiculous, except that they greatly tried and distressed 
the Prophet and the Saints. He was arrested some forty- 
nine times and as many times acquitted as innocent. 
These "afflictions" took on very serious aspects as the 
mob spirit ran riot in Missouri and Illinois with respect 
to the Latter-day Saints. Smaller settlements of the 
Saints were burned, property was appropriated by the 
mob, a distressed and persecuted people were deprived 
of all the rights of citizenship, their franchise annulled, 
their homes desecrated, their property despoiled, and 
their right to fair and impartial trial by jury denied. 
They were expatriated and banished from the confines 
of the state in which they had lived. 

In a high resolve to protect themselves from mob rule 
and religious bigotry and hatred still more violent, the 
city of Nauvoo organized a militia. Then battles oc- 
curred, resulting in the destruction of thousands of 
homes as well as the ruining of "the City Beautiful." 
The Quincy Whig, edited by Mr. Bartlett, writing of these 
inhuman assaults, said: 

"Seriously, these outrages should be put a stop to 
at once; if the Mormons have been guilty of crime, 
punish them, but do not visit their sins upon defense- 
less women and children. This is as bad as the sav- 
ages. ... It is feared that this rising against 
the Mormons is not confined to the Morley settle- 
ment, but that there is an understanding among the 
antis in the northern part of this and Hancock coun- 
ties to make a general sweep, burning and destroying 
the property of the Mormons wherever it can be 
found." 



And Their Fulfillment 67 

As culminating evidence that this clause of the proph- 
ecy — "continue to suffer much affliction' was amply- 
fulfilled, let us conclude with an extract from Bancroft's 
"History of Utah," page 217: 

"There is no parallel in the world's history to this 
migration from Nauvoo. The exodus from Egypt 
was from a heathen land, a land of idolators, f*> ~ 
fertile region designated by the Lord for his chosen 
people, the land of Canaan. The Pilgrim fathers, in 
fleeing to America, came from a bigoted and des- 
potic people — a people making few pretensions to 
civil or religious liberty. It was from these same 
people who had fled from old-world persecutions 
that they might enjoy liberty of conscience in the 
wilds of America, from their descendants and asso- 
ciates, that other of their descendants, who claimed 
the right to differ from them in opinion and prac- 
tice, were now fleeing. . . . Before this the 
Mormons had been driven to the outskirts of civiliza- 
tion, where they had built themselves a city; this 
they must now abandon, and throw themselves upon 
the mercy of savages." 

3. "Would be driven to the Rocky Mountains." 

The Latter-day Saints were expelled from Missouri, 
and were violently and ferociously "driven" from Illi- 
nois. Suggestions were made that they go out west and 
establish a country of their own. These suggestions were 
reinforced with the fury of the mob, the devouring flame 
and the sharp command of musketry. Dear old Aunt 
Bathsheba Smith, one who had suffered in all these 
atrocities, used to say, quoting her husband, George A. 
Smith: "We came here willingly, because we had to," 



68 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

and they remained here because there was no other place 
for them to go. They were driven to the Rocky Moun- 
tains. 

4. Many would apostatize" 

"I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be 
scattered." 

The culmination of persecution which was rapidly 
shaping for a wholesale banishment was too much for 
the faith of some less valiant believers. There were also 
Judases among the Saints, and these trying times were 
too severe a test for the one and too great an opportunity 
for the treachery of the other. Among the foremost 
apostates were John C. Bennett, the head of a college; 
James J. Strang, Wm. and Wilson Law, William Marks, 
William Smith, and the brilliant and once prominent 
leader, Sidney Rigdon. These, with many others, were 
not equal to the test of the tragic hour. After the mar- 
tyrdom the flock was scattered, and unity was only 
brought about by a divine manifestation which indi- 
cated where the authority and leadership in the Church 
were divinely placed. There are only a few living to- 
day who were witnesses to that divine interposition. Sid- 
ney Rigdon and other ambitious men aspired to leader- 
ship, and the flock for a time was in danger of being 
scattered into confusion. Disappointed aspirants fell 
away with their followers, with the result that several 
factions have maintained an independent, if not a hos- 
tile attitude toward the One Church which was never to 
be thrown down or given to another people. There were 
the Rigdonites, Millerites, Cutlerites, Smithites, Herdick- 
ites, Strangites, and the Reorganized Church, the last 



And Their Fulfillment 69 

named still maintaining somewhat of a respectable show- 
ing in numbers. 3 

5. "Others would be put to death." 

On June 27th, 1844, Joseph Smith and his devoted 
brother Hyrum were shot to death in Carthage jail. John 
Taylor was all but killed by the same murderous mob 
that attacked these prisorers in their defenselessness. 
(Even the guaranteed projection of the State was with- 
drawn.) 

At the time of making this great prophecy, the prophet 
perhaps did not think that he was putting the martyr's 
crown upon himself, but as time unfolded its fearful 
plans there can be little doubt that Joseph knew that 
his testimony was to be "signed and sealed" in his own 
blood. As the end approached he unquestionably knew 
"where a testament is, there must also of necessity be 
the death of the testator. For a testament is of force 
after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all 
while the testator liveth." (Heb. 9:16, 17.) 

In the battle of Nauvoo, Sept. 12, 1846, William An- 
derson and his son Augustus were shot by the mob. 
Other lives were sacrificed upon the altar of human big- 
otry and outlawry. 

6. "Lose their lives in consequence of exposures and 

disease" 

The final withdrawal of the Latter-day Saints from the 



3 Inasmuch as the genuineness of this great prophecy is estab- 
lished, and inasmuch as time has vindicated its inspiration, should 
not our "Reorganized" brethren see that the hand of God still 
points to the "midst of the Rocky Mountains" as the place where 
his Saints were to "become a mighty people?" If they desire to 
abide in the faith of the Prophet Joseph Smith, should they not 
join his people? 



70 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

state of Illinois was brought about by mutual agreement 
between the state officials and others, and the leaders 
of the Church. The great exodus began February 4th, 
1846. The ferries on the Mississippi were kept going 
night and day until the river froze over. Passage was 
then made upon the ice. Within about ten days a thou- 
sand men, women and children had crossed over into 
Iowa with all their earthly possession that could be 
taken with them. A camp was established some nine 
miles west of the river. The ground was white with 
snow, and frozen hard. It was a bitter exposure that 
these pilgrims had to endure. On the night of February 
5th, in tents, covered wagons, or in rudely constructed 
huts of mud, or logs, nine babes were born. 

About three thousand five hundred human beings, out- 
casts and exiles, were exposed to the rigors of severe 
winter weather at what was called Winter Quarters, now 
the site of the city of Florence. To house these fugi- 
tives, 538 log and 83 sod huts were provided. During 
the winter, 334 of their number were afflicted with dis- 
ease due to exposure and insanitary conditions prevail- 
ing in the camp. There were seventy -five widows among 
them. 

A chapter of their history most fraught with hardship 
and exposure is that one which feebly tells of the heroic 
journey of the Mormon Battalion from the Mississippi 
River to the Pacific Coast. That body of men made the 
first real trail or road through that great stretch of 
country. Their perils and "exposures" have never been 
adequately told. Colonel Philip St. George Cooke, com- 
mander of the Battalion, said of this great march to the 
sea: "History may be searched in vain for an equal 
march of infantry." Inadequate food supply, lack of 
water, arduous toil in digging for it, and in road build- 



And Their Fulfillment 71 

ing, and excessive marching, caused untold suffering, 
sickness and death. 

Perhaps the greatest tragedy of the plains is that 
known in the history of the pioneers as the hand cart 
company disasters. Eagerness to get to "Zion," in spite 
of inadequate provisions for the journey, led a large 
number of the English and other Saints to undertake the 
journey across the plains with hand-carts in lieu of ox 
teams and wagoris. Some of the earlier companies got 
through successfully, but the two belated ones met with 
a fate terrible to relate. In a starving and freezing con- 
dition many of them died on the journey. Of the second 
company, numbering 600, one-fourth died from these 
causes, and their graves mark the trail for hundreds of 
miles. Nothing but the promptest action upon the part 
of the leaders and the heroic men then at Salt Lake, 
who went instantly to their relief upon learning of their 
distress saved them from wolves of the plains. The re- 
lief companies went to their rescue with team-loads of 
food, blankets, and other necessities, and saved the sur- 
viving members of the companies from a cruel and tragic 
death. To these calamities to which the Saints were 
subjected might be added the conflict with Indians, the 
fight for their lives against famine, and the grasshopper 
plague, and other vicissitudes incident to the conquest 
of the west. 

So that history verifies the inspiration of the prophecy 
concerning the loss of life due to "exposure and disease." 

7. Some of you will live to go and assist in making 
settlements and build cities ." 

Of the fifty or a hundred men who heard this prophecy 
uttered at Montrose on August 6th, 1842, it may not be 
definitely known how many came to the present state of 




V 









.NX 



V 



^ 



*■<*' 



V 



N£' 



^^x 



Is vi 



S s fc 



In. k. 

fc> ^c I "*H 

„ o On C 

B 



o 2^ 



k e 



^ ^ s «^ 

ss ^.2^ 
JS — ■ 






Cf) 



s5)S 



Q ^> 






74 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

Utah. A considerable number, however, are known to 
have participated in the building of this commonwealth 
in its larger aspect. Samuel W. Richards, Shadrach 
Roundy and Anson Call were witnesses to the original 
prediction. These three names are interwoven with the 
history of the Saints in building this "inland empire." 

There never was a more conspicuous fulfillment of 
prophecy in all history. Five or six great States arise 
majestically out of the deserts and upon the mountains 
to proclaim its fulfillment. In Utah alone, there are 
twenty-eight counties, containing in all four hundred and 
twenty-five cities, towns and hamlets. Many of these 
identical centers of population were laid out, built and 
peopled, in part, by the very men who heard the proph- 
ecy at Montrose. Near half a million people now live 
within this one commonwealth whose very existence here 
is directly connected with this remarkable prophecy. 
Along with this State, others have arisen of equal prom- 
ise and importance in one way or another. Idaho, whose 
population approaches the half-million mark, with 100,- 
000 people of Utah origin permanently abiding there; 
Arizona, Wyoming, Nevada, Colorado, California, all 
containing generous numbers of descendants from the 
founders of this inter-mountain empire. The presence 
of this great populace in the empire of the plains, pro- 
claims with the voice of the millions the divine in- 
spiration of Joseph Smith. Perhaps, not one lives to- 
day who heard the prediction, but all can read it, and 
the whole world may behold its fulfillment. 

In the diary of Arson Call the prophet is said to have 
predicted that he (Call) would assist in building cities 
from one end of the country to the other." As a strik- 
ing fulfillment of that particular prophecy we cite the 
biography of Mr. Call as written for Tullidge's History 



And Their Fulfillment 75 



of Northern Utah and Southern Idaho. Upon Mr. Call's 
arrival in what became Utah, he settled in what is now 
Davis County. His original homestead and descendants 
are still there. His worthy descendants have spread over 
the whole county. In 1850 he was settling in Little Salt 
Lake Valley, as well as in Parowan. He moved to the 
northern part of the state, but was subsequently placed 
in charge of a colonizing company of fifty families to 
settle in the Pauvine Valley. In 1851 he assisted in 
laying the foundation of the city of Fillmore, Millard 
County. There he built roads, constructed mills and de- 
veloped farms. In 1854 he established Call's Fort, in 
Box Elder County, and in 1856 was sent to Carson Val- 
ley on a great colonizing expedition. He came back to 
Utah County in 1858, and in 1864 was engaged in col- 
onizing in Colorado and southwestern Utah. Tullidge, 
the historian, says of him: "Such men as Anson Call 
make history. They are peculiarly adapted to the col- 
onizing of new countries — to laying foundations of em- 
pires in a wilderness." Speaking of Davis County, one 
of the richest in the state, he continues regarding the work 
of Mr. Call thus: "He had been an important factor in 
the development of its resources, and he had arrived at 
a period of life when a man is generally less capable of 
great and continued exertion." 

Joseph Smith's prophecy concerning the life's work 
of Anson Call is almost as complete a biography as that 
recorded half a century later by the historian. What is 
prophecy but history reversed? 

8. "And see the Saints become a mighty people in the 
midst of the Rocky Mountains." 

In analyzing the greatness of the people now occu- 



76 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

pying this inter-mountain domain, one is naturally led 
to survey the vastness of their territory, and its re- 
sources in mine and field, flocks and herds, forests and 
watersheds, etc., etc. While these are indispensable to 
the prosperity of a mighty people there are other evi- 
dences of greatness that are more befitting the ideals and 
aspirations of the Latter-day Saints. If in these things 
only they were to grow mighty they had failed of their 
mission in the world and had put to very mediocre ac- 
count the great opporturity afforded by Providence in 
giving to them this country as a home. We therefore 
pass aside with mere mention the hundreds of millions 
annually produced as manufactured commodities, min- 
eral, and agricultural products, its incomparable de- 
posits of coal, and iron, its mountains of copper-bearing 
ore, regularly reduced by big smelters, its fertile fields, 
feeding scores of sugar factories, and other industrial in- 
stitutions. These are all the outer manifestations of 
greatness. True greatness must be spiritual, to endure. 
The people of Utah, particularly those of the Latter-day 
Saint persuasion, are believers in the family as the cen- 
ter of civilization and the source of happiness both here 
and hereafter. No other state in the union has a larger 
percentage of white girls and boys. No other state in 
the union has provided a better system of education for 
the youth than has Utah. And in making these claims for 
the people of this state we by no means wish to belittle 
the efforts in this direction of those higher types of 
American manhood and womanhood who have done so 
much for the welfare of the state, though they are not 
religiously affiliated with the Latter-day Saints. Few 
people, if any, own there own homes to a greater extent 
than do the people of Utah. Few, if any, have a higher 
percentage of their children in regular attendance at the 



And Their Fulfillment 11 

public schools. No people on earth have a greater re- 
gard for the Deity or a higher regard for virtue and 
chastity among men and women, maintaining a single 
standard of virtue for both sexes. Few people, if any, 
aspire higher than do the Latter-day Saints in education, 
music, charities, social welfare, and patriotic service to 
country as well as service to humanity. In pointing out 
these standards we are absolutely true to the traditions 
of the Latter-day Saints from the time of Joseph Smith 
to the present. In harmony with these viewpoints we in- 
troduce a refreshing sentiment expressed by Thomas 
Henry Huxley upon the occasion of his visit to America 
in 1876. This observation was made during an address 
at the founding of the Johns Hopkins University : 

"To an Englishman landing upon your shores for 
the first time, traveling for hundreds of miles through 
strings of great and well-ordered cities, seeing your 
enormous actual and almost infinite potential wealth 
in all commodities and the energy and ability which 
turn wealth to account, there is something sublime in 
the vista of the future. / cannot say that I am in the 
slightest degree impressed by your bigness or your 
material resources as such. Size is not grandeur, 
and territory does not make a nation. The great 
issue, about which hangs a true sublimity and the 
terror of overhanging fate, is : what are you going to 
do with all these things? What is to be the end to 
which these are to be the means? You are making a 
novel experiment in politics on the greatest scale 
which the world has yet seen. Truly America has a 
great future before her — great in toil, in care, and 
in responsibility, great in true glory, if she be guided 
in wisdom and righteousness, great in shame if she 



78 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

fail. I cannot understand why other nations should 
envy you or be blind to the fact that it is for the high- 
est interest of mankind that you should succeed; but 
the one condition of success, your sole safeguard, is 
the moral worth and intellectual clearness of the in- 
dividual citizen" 

"Size is not grandeur, and territory does not make a 
nation." In tragic verification of that great truth be- 
hold Russia and then look with envy upon Belgium. 
Witness what they were when the supreme tests came to 
both. So, no matter how rich the country, how vast the 
territory, the hand of Providence led the exiled Latter- 
day Saints to, the whole affair is a dismal failure if 
these things ever become paramount with them. They 
must be secondary. Otherwise the prophet and his fel- 
low-martyrs have died in vain. We would not say that 
the Latter-day Saints deserve all the praise that has by 
some fair-minded men been bestowed upon them. 
On the other hand we are quite certain that they have 
not merited all the contumely that is even to this day be- 
ing heaped upon them by a few puerile assailants. Our 
opinion is that the Latter-day Saints have actually be- 
come ''a mighty people," and the prophecy of Joseph 
Smith in that particular is in process of complete ful- 
fillment. As a tribute of which any people on earth 
might be profoundly proud, let us here introduce a few 
pages from the Congressional Record of November, 1919. 
They are, to a measure, self explanatory. 4 



4 The immediate circumstances under which these tributes were 
paid to the Latter-day Saints are described as follows, in a pamph- 
let recently written by Dr. James E. Talmage, of Salt Lake City; 
entitled "The Pittsburgh Conference on 'Mormonism :' " 

"As a forerunner of the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, World's Chris- 
tian Citizenship Conference, held in the early part of November, 



And Their Fulfillment 79 

BY SENATOR ASHURST, OF ARIZONA. 

"Mr. Ashurst. Mr. President, I am very glad that 
the Senator from Utah [Mr. Smoot] has spoken as 
he has. It was time for such a speech. A matchless 
maker of epigrams said that when "once a lie or a 
counterfeit statement gets into circulation it is well- 
nigh impossible to overtake it;" and therefore I be- 
lieve the Senator has done a service to his country in 
exposing this infamous slander, which has been pub- 
lished broadcast against so many worthy people. 

"When I read the article, I felt offended because 
there are in Arizona a large number of 'Mormon' 
people; or people who belong to the Church of Jesus 
Christ of Latter-day Saints; and I would be false to 
that principle of fair play for which I have always 
pretended that I stood if I failed at this time to say a 
word on the subject. 

"It may be true that I do not understand fully the 
theology of the Mormon Church; but, Mr. President, 



1919, there were press notices sent out and printed in many papers 
in the United States containing false accusations against Utah and 
the Latter-day Saints, written by an English novel writer, Wini- 
fred Graham, and dated London, October 21. The Commercial 
and Rotary Clubs, and other like organizations in Salt Lake City, 
demurred against the falsehoods and sent their protests to Senator 
Reed Smoot with a request that he call the attention of the Senate 
of the United States to them. This he did on November 10, and 
we take pleasure in printing his speech and the documents in 
full, from the Congressional Record of November 11; also the 
splendid defense of the Latter-day Saints, on the floor of the Sen- 
ate Chamber by Senator Henry F. Ashurst, of Arizona, Senator 
Charles S. Thomas, of Colorado, and Senator Charles B. Hender- 
son, of Nevada. It is doubtless the first unsolicited defense of 
the Latter-day Saints ever uttered in the Senate of the United 
Stats, and is well deserved. A host of people in the West are 
grateful to these gentlemen for the truths presented at the oppor- 
tune time and place." 



80 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

the first church I ever attended was a Mormon 
Church. When there was no other church within 100 
miles of the lonely frontier cabin where my parents 
lived, we found solace and comfort in attending the 
Mormon Church situated 9 miles distant. Our near- 
est — in fact, our only neighbors for years were the 
Mormon people. Better neighbors no pioneer ever 
had. I am proud of the Mormon people. I am 
proud of the friendship that I have for them, and 
that I believe they have for me; and while, as I said 
before, I do not completely understand their theol- 
ogy, I am able to say here, in the Senate of the Unit- 
ed States, that their church has elevated many intel- 
lects and purified many hearts in my state. 

"As pioneers in a new country, the Mormons are 
unrivaled. They are sober, industrious, frugal, hon- 
est. They are pre-eminently state builders; and to- 
day, if called upon to name a people who could most 
expeditiously transform a desert of swirling and 
heated sands into splendid fields and farms, I would 
unhesitatingly choose the Mormon people. In many 
places where once cacti lifted their thorny arms into 
the brazen and heated air, Mormon industry has 
reared temples, hospitals, homes, factories, and 
schools. 

"Moreover, I never saw a Mormon I. W. W.; but I 
have, at some county courthouses in my state, heard 
disgruntled, lazy, and indolent men who did not be- 
long to the Mormon Church sit on the steps of the 
courthouse and curse the Government and curse the 
President, while Mormon citizens were going into the 
same county courthouse to pay taxes without com- 
plaint. 

"Mr. Owen. Mr. Presdient— 



And Their Fulfillment 81 

"Mr. Ashurst. I yield for a question. 

"Mr. Owen. I should like to ask the Senator if it 
is not a tenet of the Mormons to teach and preach in- 
dustry and thrift? 

"Mr. Ashurst. I am able to state that industry 
and thrift are amongst the foundation stones of the 
Mormon Church. Absolute and unquestioned obedi- 
ence to law is a tenet of the Mormon Church. Re- 
spect for authority is one of the tenets of the Mor- 
mon Church. We need more of such people in these 
perilous times of the Republic; and again I would 
be false to every principle of justice and to every 
sentiment of gratitude if I failed to state at this 
time that when savage Indians galloped along by our 
pioneer homes, burning and murdering, plundering 
and scalping as they went, it was to the Mormon 
people that my defenseless but heroic parents went 
for refuge and defense. 

"So, Mr. President, I say the Senator from Utah 
has done well in 'scotching' this falsehood, which 
has been given such wide circulation. I believe the 
American people are coming at last fully to under- 
stand the Mormon people. Their temples, schools, 
fields, homes, industry, frugality, their morality and 
their patriotism testify for them in more eloquent 
terms than the Senator or I could speak. Then, 
again, observe their Representatives in the House and 
in the Senate. Look at the high class of public ser- 
vants they send here. I ask that the Mormons be 
judged as a people, judged as a religion, as the Sen- 
ator says, by their fruits; and if they be judged by 
their fruits the verdict of the world will be in their 
favor. 

"It seems to me that the time should be welcomed 



82 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

in America when men shall not further be assailed 
because of their religion or lack of religion. Men 
ought not further to be assailed or discriminated 
against because of their particular view of how to 
follow the Master. America was built up, and one 
of the reasons why the migrations came from the 
old countries to these shores was that our ancestors 
desired to find a place to build free and strong states 
where such ignoble sentiments as bigotry could not 
survive. 

"Mr. President. I do not forget that this splendid 
domain of Arizona, one of the imperial states of this 
Union, came into being largely through the brave ex- 
ploits of the Mormon people. When Gen. Stephen 
Kearny was beleagured near San Diego during the 
Mexican War, and it seemed as if the Mexicans were 
going to capture and annihilate him and his entire 
command, it was the Mormon battalion that marched 
all the long way from Iowa into Tucson, Ariz., and 
occupied in Mexican territory a domain we now 
know as the Gadsden Purchase, which was purchased 
by our Government in 1854. When the commanding 
officer, Lieut. Col. St. George Cooke, entered the 
Mexican town of Tucson and raised the American 
flag, he issued a pronunciamento, and I wish the Ger- 
man outragers had read that document before they 
invaded Belgium. The lieutenant colonel entering 
the city of Tucson, nearly 1,500 miles from civiliza- 
tion, said in his manifesto to the people of Mexico: 

" 'We do hot war upon civilians. We make war 
against men in uniform only. The property of indi- 
viduals will be held sacred. All civil rights will be 
upheld. Those who obey the law and conform to 
order will be protected.' 



And Their Fulfillment 83 

"The command remained there some days to re- 
fresh itself and then marched on to the relief of Gen. 
Kearny, who, as I said, was beleagured and sur- 
rounded near San Diego. 

"So, Mr. President, the Mormon people, as pio- 
neers, as state builders, as statesmen, as people of in- 
dustry and patriotism, in every department of life, 
compare well and favorably with the general mass of 
their fellow-citizens. This much I feel I should have 
said; more than that I need not say. 

"BY SENATOR THOMAS, OF COLORADO. 

"Mr. Thomas. Mr. President, I am not and never 
have been a communicant of any church, and if I live 
to be as old again as I am now, I would not change. 
In my youth I was greatly impressed with a remark 
of Gibbon, that 'all religions are to the vulgar 
equally true, to the philosopher equally false, and to 
the statesman equally useful, 5 and the experience of 
mature years has served to deepen the impression. I 
have never been able to reconcile the tenets and doc- 
trines of all religious faiths with that spirit of persecu- 
tion and fanaticism they develop toward each other, 
and which has so many times culminated in destruc- 
tive and decimating wars. I believe in religious tol- 
eration, without any conditions whatever, except 
those required by the tenets of morality and of law 
and order. Hence I have remained aloof from iden- 
tification with any faith. 

"Up to this time I have never found occasion to 
publicly defend the Mormon people, because it has 
not seemed necessary; but I can not allow the oc- 
casion to pass without paying tribute to their moral- 



84 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

ity and usefulness, not only to their own communi- 
ties, but as exemplars to the whole country in peril- 
ous times like these. 

"Mr. President, when respect for the law is the ex- 
ception and not the rule, when the different forces 
of society are so antagonistic that the political struc- 
ture is menaced with danger, it is refreshing to note 
that the adherents of this faith have at all times been 
the advocates and the exponents of peace, of justice, 
of law, and of order; and however just the criticisms 
aimed against former institutions, the fact remains, 
as established by more than half a century of prac- 
tice, that the communities professing the Mormon 
faith are among the best and highest exemplars of 
American citizenship. 

"During the war there was much disloyalty in 
America. Scarcely any commonwealth was entirely 
free from it. During the war resistance to the draft 
occasionally punctuated our dispatches, and the ex- 
pression of toleration or friendliness to the enemy 
was one of the commonest of occurrences. But dur- 
ing that critical period upon no occasion which I can 
remember did the people of Utah, Mormon and Gen- 
tile, fail to whole-heartedly, loyally, and enthusias- 
tically respond to every call made by the Government 
for soldiers or for money. Not in a single instance 
did this people falter. Their splendid youth were 
given freely to our armies, and the blood of their 
boys sanctifies the soil of every battle field in 
France. 

"Every loan drive was responded to, not by the 
quota, but far beyond it, and in everything that con- 
tributed to good citizenship, to patriotism, to loyalty, 
and to love of country, these people were ever con- 



And Their Fulfillment 85 

spicuous ; and it is due to them, as one of the repre- 
sentatives from a neighboring state wherein many 
of these people are located, and are among our best 
citizens, that I should say so. 

"We have not many Mormons in the State of Col- 
orado. Some years ago a settlement was established 
in what is known as the San Luis Valley. It has 
grown, it has flourished, it is prosperous. Its people 
are law-abiding, they are industrious, they are hard 
working, they pay their debts, they obey and support 
the authorities. Bolshevism, anarchism, and social- 
ism are foreign to the atmosphere of that community. 
They can not take root in such a soil. 

"These people are today, therefore, one of the pil- 
lars of the social, economic, and political systems of 
the country, whose removal might imperil the entire 
structure of our social, economic, and political life. 
Their faith I am not concerned with ; their character 
and their achievements are a credit to them and an 
incalculable benefit to the country. 

"BY SENATOR HENDERSON, OF NEVADA. 

"Mr. Henderson. Mr. President, I wish to express 
my approval of and join in all that has been said by 
the senior Senator from Colorado [Mr. Thomas] rel- 
ative to those of the Mormon faith. We have in east- 
ern Nevada a number of Mormon settlements. I have 
visited a number of them. I wish to say that there 
are no better citizens in the country than those of that 
faih. In one community that I know of, established 
over 40 years ago, there has never been a jail. I be- 
lieve that is true of the others. These people never 
have any use for jails. Where they go, law and 



86 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

order prevail, and thrift and economy are taught and 
practiced. 

"Mr. President, the record of the Mormon people, 
throughout the war, has been without a blemish. 
Their sons were amongst the first to enlist and their 
quota was quickly filled. They over-subscribed their 
proportion of Liberty bonds. Their patriotism h"" 
been of the highest order and without question. 

"There is much that can be said in their favor, Mr. 
President, but I shall not detain the Senate longer, 
as there are some Senators waiting to address the 
Senate on the proposed reservation to Article 10. I 
am glad, however, of the opportunity to express my 
disapproval of the attack directed against the Mor- 
mons referred to by the Senator from Utah [Mr. 
Smoot]." 
In the light of these glowing tributes are we not justi- 
fied in the conviction that politically, industrially, so- 
cially, intellectually and religiously, the Latter-day 
Saints have become "a mighty people in the midst of the 
Rocky Mountains"? 

TRIBUTE OF WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN TO THE LATTER- 
DAY SAINTS. 

And to these complimentary remarks may we be per- 
mitted to reprint an impromptu tribute paid to the same 
people, just the other day, at Salt Lake City, by Mr. 
William Jennings Bryan? Mr. Bryan had attended one 
of the sesssions of the General Conference of the Church. 
After the regular services had been dismissed, an organ 
recital was tendered the distinguished visitor, to which 
he responded: 

"Mr. Bryan said the truths he had heard expounded 



And Their Fulfillment 87 

there that day he should endeavor to carry with him 
throughout his life, and he believed that through him 
many people might hear the truth concerning c Mor- 
monism,' for he would endeavor to give an exposi- 
tion of what he had heard, in plain truth, to the peo- 
ple with whom he associates. Mr. Bryan said he had 
been undecided about coming to Salt Lake. He had 
been asked to speak in Los Angeles Monday, but he 
had obeyed a whim, almost, and had come to Salt 
Lake, he did not know why. But now, he said, he be- 
lieved it was providential. At any rate, he said, he 
had heard truths u'tered that impressed him deeply 
and he knows now he is better equipped to perform 
his work in the world for having heard 'Mormonism' 
expounded. Particularly was he impressed, Mr. 
Bryan said, with the 'Mormon' belief in the personal- 
ity of God. It is a beautiful belief, he said, and one 
by which the world might profit. He referred to the 
application of the Gospel in the lives of the 'Mor- 
mon' people and said such principles applied to the 
problems of the world, would, in very deed, solve the 
difficulties with which the world is beset. He re- 
ferred to the single standard of morality, as ex- 
pounded by one of the speakers, and said that in very 
truth that is a principle that might well be applied to 
the lives of all men." (Taken from the daily press 
reports.) 

TRIBUTE OF FRANKLIN K. LANE, FORMERLY SECRETARY 
OF THE INTERIOR. 

In an article written for the National Geographic 
Magazine, June 1920, entitled "A Mind's-Eye Map of 
America," Franklin K. Lane, formerly Secretary of the 



88 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

Interior, has this to say, under the heading, "What the 
Mormons have done for Utah:" 

"Never speak disrespectfully of the Mormon 
Church. It has as law-abiding, steady, hard-working, 
kindly a group of people in Utah as will be found 
anywhere this round globe over. Brigham Young 
may not have been a prophet of Almighty God, but 
he worked a miracle when he crossed from the Mis- 
souri River over that desert, leading his band of a 
few hundred followers with their push-carts, going 
out into that unknown waste, and turned the land 
that lies around Salt Lake City into a garden. 

"I brought from Egypt several years ago the great- 
est irrigation expert in the world, perhaps, the man 
who built the Assuan dam upon the Nile — Sir Wil- 
liam Willcocks, the man who claims to have discov- 
ered where the Garden of Eden was located, at the 
junction of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers — and I 
sent him to look over the irrigation enterprises of 
the United States, and he said: 'Nowhere else have I 
seen people who understand so wisely how to apply 
water to land as around Salt Lake City.' " 

That a mighty people is really living here in these 
Rocky Mountains let us here present the opinion of an 
authority on the subject, the venerable Dean of Amer- 
ican educators, Dr. A. E. Winship, editor of the Journal 
of Education, Boston. After a careful study of educa- 
tional matters in Utah for nearly half a century, during 
which time scores of visits had been made to this state, 
Dr. Winship, upon the occasion of the enactment of 
Utah's new educational laws, published a booklet in ap- 
preciation of them. This publication is titled, "Utah's 
Educational Leadership." In sending this booklet to 



And Their Fulfillment 89 



XDXTOHUL HOOM8 



journal of Education- 



Mm 



BEACON STSS8X 
BOSTON 



*. K. WXKMtm E»rrox 



Y am sending you a &u 1 1 e t i n wh I c h 
is, 1 thank, 'the most important writing 
Y have^ever done. Utah has placed her« ' 
self at the head o'f the procession but 
it will be a tragedy if she is not followed 
by every state in the onion in h.er* noble .. 
ef fort, to save from waywardness all young 
.men and worrfen up* to elflvteen years of -age 
through tire ^publl.-c schools. 
-Sincerely , 




Tribute to the State of Utah with respect to its Educational 
Laws, by Dr. A. E. Winship, of Boston, 1920. 



90 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

the educators of the country, the doctor introduces the 
message thus: 

"I am sending you a Bulletin which is, I think, the 
most important writing I have ever done. Utah has 
placed herself at the head of the procession, but it 
will be a tragedy if she is not followed by every 
state in the union in her noble effort to save from 
waywardness all yourg men and women up to eigh- 
teen years of age through the public schools. 

"Sincerely, 

"A. E. Winship." 

On the occasion of the N. E. A. Convention being held 
in Salt Lake City, in 1920, the doctor published the fol- 
lowing leading editorial in his Journal, in the four is- 
sues for June: 

"Why go to Salt Lake City?" 

"You can get more for your money in a regular 
excursion railroad ticket to Salt Lake City than 
to any city in America. 



"No place, not on the sea shore, offers equally 
good day excursions. 

"No other city offers such a luxury as bathing 
in the Great Salt Lake. 

"No other city offers as good an auditorium for 
a large audience. 

"No other city and state presents as good a dem- 
onstration of marvelous achievement through com- 
munity co-operation. 

"Utah has made greater strides in the funda 
mentals of public school education in thirty years 
than has any other state in the union. 



And Their Fulfillment 91 

"Only one state east of the Mississippi has as 
high rank in the fundamentals of public school edu- 
cation as has Utah, and only one other state east 
of the Missouri river ranks as high. 

" Utah leads every state in the union in public 
school laws that make for morality. 

"Utah is the first state in the union to have a 
public school law that eliminates loafing of young 
people up to eighteen years of age. 

"Utah is the first state in the union to have state 
laws to establish public school responsibility for 
all young people under eighteen years of age. 

"// you desire an opportunity to study the work- 
ing of the best public school laws in America go to 
the National Educational Association, July 5-9 
[1920]." 

Again, let us say that these achievements for which 
the people of Utah are given credit have been attained 
by the co-operation of all peoples living within the state 
without regard to creed or race or social caste. It might, 
in fairness be said, however, that the co-operative spirit, 
and the splendid organization and educational ideals 
of the Latter-day Saints have been great factors in 
getting these results. At any rate, there is a people liv- 
ing out here in the very "midst of the Rocky Mountains" 
who have drawn from remote and cultured Boston this 
great tribute. It must be a mighty people who can so 
move the enlightened, discriminating mind of Dr. A. E. 
Winship. Perhaps these people in Utah are not the 
"mighty people" that the writer thinks them to be but all 
will admit they have received one of the very highest 
compliments that could be paid to a people. What 
higher or more worthy aspiration could a people have 



92 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

than that of educational supremacy? Especially, if that 
educational supremacy means the making of men first 
and scholars secondly. 

It should be stated that the Latter-day Saints main- 
tain a score of high schools, academies and some higher 
institutions of learning such as the Brigham Young Uni- 
versity at Provo, and the Brigham Young College at 
Logan. Within the Church, and following its organiza- 
tions everywhere, are auxiliary institutions, whose activ- 
ities are so diversified as to provide well planned 
courses of study and specific lines of activity for every 
member of the Church from the little children to the 
venerable parents. These organizations are: The Relief 
Society — a charity institution composed of women ex- 
clusively and organized by Joseph Smith in the year 
1842; the Sunday Schools, the Young Men's Mutual 
Improvement Associations, the Young Ladies' Mutual 
Improvement Associations, the Primary Association, and 
the Religion Classes — a sort of supplement to the public 
schools which provide moral and religious training of 
children for one or two hours a week after the close of 
school. Other societies also operate in specialized lines, 
such as the Genealogical Societies. The male member- 
ship of the Church is, almost without exception, allotted 
among the various orders of the Priesthood. These "quo- 
rums" are perfectly organized and hold weekly meet- 
ings during which specific courses of studies are pur- 
sued under competent class leadership. The practical 
duties of the Priesthod are also given opportunity for 
exercise either in these meetings or in connection with the 
"quorum" activities through the week. The labors of 
the members are reported at these meetings. 

The subjects studied and put into practice by these 
several organizations embrace the whole moral code, 



And Their Fulfillment 93 

- 

running from the first principles of faith to the most ad- 
vanced theology. They comprehend the duties of citizen- 
ship, the laws of health, home economics, social service, 
scout-craft for boys and girls, the problems of social bet- 
terment and recreation, and the more advanced methods 
of relief and charity work. In this way the whole round 
of life's needs are provided for and a full and live mem- 
bership in the Church implies a virile and spirited activ- 
ity in at least a few of these organizations. 

As an agency of enlightenment and progress we might 
mention the great missionary system carried on by the 
Church. In normal times the Church annually sends out 
into the missions of the world, approximately one thou- 
sand missionaries. For the most part, these are young 
•men, who cheerfully respond to a call to go to the utter- 
most parts of the earth at their own expense and spend 
from two to three years in the service of the Master. 
Some young women are sent into the missions who thus 
have opportunities of travel and contact with the world 
equal to that of the young men. This proselyting system 
Ijas become a fixed institution in the Church. The 
younger members look to it as an experience of highest 
value to them. It is an invaluable part of their religious 
education and intellectual development. While these 
missionaries go out into the world with something of 
great value to offer, they bring back much that is of 
value to their people. Two or three years mingling 
with foreign or remote peoples, whose institutions and 
beliefs are matters of constant study and discussion, could 
not fail to have a broadening and enlightening effect up- 
on the youth so engaged. 

"There is no school that disciplines the mind, 
And broadens thought like contact with mankind.** 



94 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

These are the agencies that make the Latter-day Saints 
a cosmopolitan people rather than a provincial one. 
Stagnation follows isolation. Mingling in the great cur- 
rents of the world's endeavor mean progress and enlight- 
enment. Thus the activities and requirements of the 
Church provide a progressive occupation in the whole 
circle of human activities. Every talent, every degree of 
intelligence, every power developed to its highest point 
of efficiency is set to work in the activities of the Church 
for the betterment of the general membership and the 
good of mankind. 

One of our educators made this observation: 

"A careful study of the work done in the organ- 
izations of the Church described herein will dis- 
close a system of real education perhaps without a 
parallel. The variety of work and the amount of re- 
sponsibility that almost every member of the Church 
carries is well calculated to develop all its powers. 
Such a system in time would produce — not one or 
two extraordinary characters — but a commonwealth 
of more than usual ability. It should elevate nearly 
all its members far above the average, and make 
a citizenship most desirable. 

"The amount of work done gratis, if paid for in 
cash at a fair valuation would, without doubt, ex- 
ceed $10,000,000 a year, or more than $30 for each 
man, woman and child in the Church. Where is 
there another people whose desire for advancement 
is proved by such generosity?" 

" A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither 
can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." 



And Their Fulfillment 95 

The last Article of Faith in the creed of the Latter-day 
Saints reads thus: 

"We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevo- 
lent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; in- 
deed we may say that we follow the admonition of 
Paul, We believe all things, we hope all things, 
we have endured many things, and hope to be able 
to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, 
lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek 
after these things." 

Do not the following facts, authorized by the Utah 
State Board of Health, reveal the underlying principles 
of the lives of these people? 

In the matter of birth-rate the Latter-day Saints are 
fifty per cent higher than the general average of the 
United States, in marriage, twenty per cent higher. The 
divorce rate of the United States is two-and-half times 
that of the Latter-day Saints; the death rate is fourteen 
per thousand, while with the Latter-day Saints during the 
nine years last past it is only eight per thousand. The 
average age at death in the United States is thirty-two; 
the average among the Latter-day Saints is nearly forty, 
or twenty -five per cent higher — an adding of eight years 
to the life of man. 

These are the tangible results of proper living. It 
isn't climate, or wealth, or physical occupation that has 
wrought the achievement. It is religion applied in the 
daily walks of life. Where men carry the spirit of the 
above article of faith with them from the home to their 
work and return with it to their homes where it has a 
permanent abiding place, there you will find the days 
of man lengthened and filled the while with blessing. 



96 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

Here is an instance where a religion finds free ex- 
pression in the entire lives of its votaries. It has made 
them pre-eminently temperate. The petty vices are still 
largely resisted. Nation after nation is now abolishing 
the causes of debauchery which this people in God's 
name proclaimed against a generation ago. Virtue is 
held as paramount in old and young. Common honesty 
is the basis of all conduct. The family group is *i 
kingdom of eternal promise and the source of eternal 
glory. The love of home and the love of country, so 
closely akin, make the good citizen. The love of chil- 
dren, and their proper care and education, make the 
enduring state. These are the characteristics of the Lat- 
ter-day Saints. Must not any people become mighty in 
the earth that adhere to principles like these? 

9. "Many nations shall be gathered in that land." 

As early as 1860 this graphic description of the many 
peoples represented in the Rocky Mountain settlements 
was made by the historian Bancroft: 

"To the student of humanity there were few 
richer fields for study than could be found at this 
period in the "Mormon" capital, where almost ev- 
ery state in the union, and every nation in Europe 
had its representatives. There were to be seen side 
by side the tall, sinewey Norwegian, fresh from his 
pine forests, the phlegmatic Dane, the stolid, prac- 
tical German, the dapper, quick-minded Frenchman, 
the clumsy, dogmatic Englishman, and the shrewd, 
versatile American." 

From that day until the present, the "many nations" 
have in increasing numbers and variety been gathering 



And Their Fulfillment 97 

in "that land." From far-off India, Japan and China; 
from the Russias and the islands of the Pacific and the 
South Seas there has been a continuous stream flowing 
into the "midst of the Rocky Mountains." From all the 
European countries, as well as from the several states 
of our own union, men and women continue to come in 
quest of homes, or health, or wealth, or religious affilia- 
tion. The peopling of this region has been rapid, in- 
deed. There are in the several states comprising the 
Rocky Mountain country more than three millions of 
people. In Europe such a growth would require a mil- 
lennium, while here it is an attainment of less than a 
century. 

10. "Building cities and temples" 

The building of settlements and cities has brought 
about the creation of a great inland empire — known to 
all the world today. The aspirations of the Latter-day 
Saints have by no means found full realization in these 
material things. Their highest aims are essentially 
spiritual. From the very beginning, and that, too, at 
great personal sacrifice, in a worldly sense, they have 
constructed beautiful and costly temples. Within six 
years after their arrival in the valley of the Great Salt 
Lake they laid the foundations of a temple that required 
forty years to complete and cost three-and-a-half 
millions of dollars. This great enterprize was under- 
taken by a people without capital, without credit and 
with a wilderness to subdue before they could even make 
their homes a certainty. Could greater exhibitions of 
faith and spirituality be found? 

Before its completion three other temples, less pre- 
tentious, but nevertheless very worthy structures, were 




1 

a" 
O 






CO 
^2 



Q 

•^ 



100 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

built — in St. George, Logan and Manti. Then followed 
the two temples undertaken almost simultaneously, viz: 
the Hawaiian at Laie, Oahu, and the Canadian at Cards- 
ton. In addition to these very handsome and costly 
edifices the plans are well under way for another tem- 
ple to build at Mesa, Arizona. So, a generation has 
scarcely passed until this prophecy concerning temple 
building is adequately fulfilled, and temple building is 
by no means at an end. 

11. "And Israel be made to rejoice" 

In the fulfillment of this very remarkable prophecy we 
behold the unfolding of the purposes of God with respect 
to the gathering of modern Israel. "The Valleys of the 
Mountains" immediately became the gathering place for 
the Saints who heard the voice of the true Shepherd as he 
called through the voices of his messengers, thus : "Come 
out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, 
and that ye receive not of her plagues." Joseph Smith de- 
clared this entire land of America to be the "Land of 
Zion,"the gathering place of the Saints in the dispensation 
of the "fulness of times." With these great events now in 
full view, we see the fulfillment, not of Joseph Smith's 
prophecies alone, but of the prophecies of the holy men 
of old who spoke as they were moved upon by the Holy 
Ghost. 

Of these great events the Hebrew Prophet Isaiah pro- 
claimed : 

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the 
mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in 
the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above 
the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 

"And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and 



And Their Fulfillment 101 

let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the 
house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of 
his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of 
Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the 
Lord from Jerusalem." 

And again : 

"And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from 
afar, and will hiss unto them from the end of the 
earth; and behold they shall come with speed 
swiftly; . . . 

"And it shall come to pass in that day that the 
Lord shall set his hand again the second time to 
recover the remnant of his people, which shall be 
left, from Assyria and from Egypt, and from Path- 
ros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shi- 
nar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the 
sea. 

"And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, 
and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather 
together the dispersed of Judah from the four 
corners of the earth." 

Again : 

"Fear not: I am with thee: I will bring thy seed 
from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will 
say to the north, Give up; and the south, Keep not 
back; bring thy sons from afar, and thy daughters 
from the ends of the earth; 

"Even every one that is called by my name; for 
I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; 
yea I have made him." 

Jeremiah, speaking of Israel's ultimate redemption, 
prophesied : 



102 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 



"Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, 
whither I have driven them in my anger, and in my 
fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them 
again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell 
safely; 

"And they shall be my people and I shall be their 
God." 

Again from Jeremiah : 

"In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, 
the children of Israel, shall come, they and the chil- 
dren of Judah together, going and weeping; they 
shall go, and seek the Lord their God. 

"They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces 
thitherward, saying, Come let us join ourselves to 
the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be 
forgotten." 

Again from Ezekiel : 

"For thus saith the Lord, God, Behold, even I, 
will both search my sheep, and seek them out. 

"As a shepherd seeketh out his flock, in the day 
that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so 
will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out 
of all places where they have been scattered in the 
cloudy and dark day. 

"And I will bring them out from the people, and 
gather them from the countries, and will bring them 
to their own lands, and feed them upon the moun- 
tains of Israel by the rivers, and in the inhabited 
places of the country. 

"I will feed them in a good pasture and upon the 
high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there 



And Their Fulfillment 103 

shall they lie in a good fold and in a fat pasture 
shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. 

No better recapitulation of the fulfillment of this very 
great prophecy could be made than the mere restatement 
of the prophecy itself : 

I prophesied that the Saints would continue to suffer 
much affliction — and would be driven to the Rocky 
Mountains — many would apostatize — others would be put 
to death by our persecutors — or lose their lives in con- 
sequence of exposure or disease — and some of you will 
go and assist in making settlements and build cities — 
and see the Saints become a mighty people in the midst 
of the Rocky Mountains. 

The prophecy is both epilogue and prologue. Three- 
quarters of a century recorded aforetime in ten lines. 
They contain the tragedy of human woe — man's inhuman- 
ity to man — the fierceness of human intolerance — the he- 
roic achievement under stress of necessity — the failure of 
some under strain — fortitude to highest victory in mar- 
tyrdom — sacrificial victims on the altar of human bigotry 
— the goal of achievement won by courageous persever- 
ance — an empire rising out of the vales and crowning 
the peaks where all but the Prophet saw vast worthless 
wastes. 

Time — truth — triumph. 

Another prophecy concerning the deliverance of the 
Saints from the oppression of their intolerant foes was 
made by Joseph Smith on February 25, 1844. In re- 
cording the occurrences at an evening prayer meeting 
the Prophet wrote: 

"I gave some instructions and prophesied that 
within five years we would be out of the power of 



104 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

our enemies, whether they were apostates, or of the 
world, and told the brethren to record it, that when 
it comes to pass, they cannot say they had forgotten 
the saying." (Vol. 6, p. 225, Church History.) 

This prophecy is to be found regularly recorded in 
the annals of the Church. It appeared in its chronolog- 



! PresRleriFYoung went to Kn'oivlt'on'g settle- 
; merit on Bear Creek, and preached. 

! Sunday, 25.— I preached at the Temple 

Block. Hynirri' also preached. 

; Evening I attended prayer meeting in the 

! Assembly Room. We prayed that Kiem 

j Smith's views of the powers and policy of the 

| United States" might be spread far and, wide, 

1 r and he the means of opening the hearts of the 

people.. I gave some important instructions, 

and prophesied that within five years we should 

be out of the power of our old enemies, whether 

they were apostates or of the* world, and tola 

; the brethren to record it, that when it comen 

[to pass they need not say they had forgotten 

[the saying;. 

i Some rain in the evening, cloudy and foggv, 
i Monday, 26.— At home," a cold wind from 
I the north. ^ Rainy, duii day. . / • ; 
! ^In the afternoon held court at the Mansion, 
. City . of Kauvoo vs. Orsimus. F« Bostwick, 
' on complaint of Hyram Smith, for slanderous 

Prophecy of Joseph Smith concerning the Saints being out of 
the power of their "old enemies" within five years from February 
25th, 1844. This prophecy was published in the Deseret News, in 
the regular course of the Church History, which was being pub- 
lished in that paper. This reproduction was taken from the issue 
of June 3, 1857* 



And Their Fulfillment 105 

ical place in every printed history running through the 
various periodicals in which the history was at first pub- 
lished. We reproduce the print as it appeared in the 
Deseret News, in 1857. 

Five years from that date, February 25, 1844, the 
headquarters of the Church, and many thousand of its 
members, were safely located in the Rocky Mountains, 
beside the Great Inland Sea. They were fully one thou- 
sand miles from their hostile neighbors of Missouri and 
Illinois who had driven them out into the wilderness. 
Yet they had a different, but no less determined foe to 
overcome. For about this time they were battling for 
their existence in the great grasshopper war. In that 
tragic conflict every vestige of their substance was dread- 
fully threatened. But they were literally separated by a 
thousand miles of trackless waste from their human en- 
emies. There were not even vindictive apostates to assail 
or betray. "They were out of the power of their en- 
emies!" 



106 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 



America— The Cradle of Humanity 

"We have obtained a Land of Promise, 
A land which is choice above all other lands. 
If iniquity shall abound, cursed shall be the land. 
But unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever.' 5 

— Book of Mormon. 

From time immemorial the Garden of Eden has been 
regarded as having been somewhere on the eastern 
hemisphere. Within recent times its location has been 
supposedly determined. Biblical traditions seemed to 
place it in those parts with which the Bible-reading world 
was familar, and very naturally so. The New World was 
entirely out of consideration in connection with such 
matters for obvious reasons. 

Science and revelation are free. They are not bound 
by tradition. Their objectives are truth and light. 
Their mission seems to be the breaking down of false 
traditions and ridding the world of error. Of the 
two, revelation is infallible, while science is hon- 
estly striving as hand-maid to truth. True science and 
revelation are always in harmony, though the former 
may require time to reach the perfect development of the 
truth that the latter releases as a flood of light decend- 
ing from heaven. 

In a revelation given to Joseph Smith, March 28, 
1835, at Kirtland, Ohio, the following appears: 

"Three years previous to the death of Adam, he 
called Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, 
and Methuselah, who were all High Priests, with 
the residue of his posterity who were righteous, into 



And Their Fulfillment 107 

the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and there bestowed 
upon them his last blessing. 

"And the Lord appeared unto them, and they rose 
up and blessed Adam, and called him Michael, the 
Prince, the Archangel. 

"And the Lord administered comfort unto Adam, 
and said unto him, I have set thee to be at the head — 
a multitude of nations shall come of thee, and thou 
art a prince over them forever. 

"And Adam stood up in the midst of the congre- 
gation, and notwithstanding he was bowed down with 
age, being full of the Holy Ghost, predicted what- 
soever should befall his posterity unto the latest gen- 
eration. 

"These things were all written in the book of 
Enoch, and are to be testified of in due time." 

In section 116 of the Doctrine and Covenants the ex- 
act location of Adam-ondi-Ahman is placed by revela- 
tion at Spring Hill, Davis county, Missouri. 

Thus revelation, without regard to time-honored tra- 
dition, proclaims America as the land whereon man 
made his advent. 

To science the question may still be an open one, she 
always opens the door to truth but seldom closes it. 

It is interesting to discover what the disclosures of 
science are in this connection. With no attempt at 
anything like a thorough survey of the great field of 
speculation and knowledge on the subject, we introduce 
here some statements which seem to generously support, 
if not completely confirm, the revelation given to Jo- 
seph Smith on the matter. 

Agassiz, the great American scientist, eloquently 
speaks thus on the subject: 



108 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

"First born among the continents, though so 
much later in culture and civilization than some of 
more recent birth, America, so far as her physical 
history is concerned, has been falsely denominated 
the New World. Hers was the first dry land lifted 
out of the waters, hers the first shore washed by the 
ocean that enveloped all the earth beside; and 
while Europe was represented only by islands ris- 
ing here and there above the sea, America already 
stretched an unbroken line of land from Nova 
Scotia to the far west." 

Writing of the antiquity of man in America, John 
Fiske, in his "Discovery of America," says: 

"It is altogether probable that the people whom 
the Spaniards found in America came by migra- 
tion from the old world. But it is by no means 
probable that their emigration occurred within so 
short a period as five or six thousand years. A 
series of observations and discoveries kept up for 
the last half century seem to show that North Amer- 
ica has been continuously inhabited by human beings 
since the earliest Pleistocene times, if not earlier." 

Writing on the same subject, Thomas Jefferson, said: 

"I suppose the settlement of our continent is of the 
most remote antiquity; the similitude between its in- 
habitants and those of the eastern part of Asia, 
render it probable that ours are descended from 
them, or they from ours. The latter is my opinion, 
founded on this single fact. Among the red in- 
habitants of Asia there are but few languages radi- 
cally different; but among our Indians, the number 



And Their Fulfillment 109 

of languages is infinite, which are so radically dif- 
ferent as to exhibit at present no appearance of their 
having been derived from a common source. The 
time necessary for the generation of so many lan- 
guages must be immense." 

Commenting on Mr. Jefferson's deductions, the Ameri- 
cana proceeds with this contribution to the subject: 

"Since his time, however, scientific research, in its 
wonderful progress, has developed other reasons for 
the truth of the theory. Scientists have examined, 
in America, the skeletons of past geological ages 
and the remains of dead human beings which gave 
evidence of as early existence here as any yet found 
outside of America. ... As early, however, as 
they indicate the presence of man in the eastern 
hemisphere, there have been findings of his relics 
and his bones in America, which show his presence 
here as early, if not earlier. Evidences of man in 
America during the Quaternary age, which some 
geologists estimate as two hundred thousand years 
ago, while others make the time much longer, have 
been found in the sands and gravels drifted by gla- 
cial currents and in localities with surroundings 
possibly indicating the Tertiary age. . . . They 
were found imbedded in the sands and gravel, which 
clearly indicated that they had reposed undisturbed 
ever since they had been deposited there by the gla- 
cial flood which deposited the sands and pebbles 
around them. The hard stone of which they had 
been made could not have been worn or chipped 
into the shape they bore by any force except that of 
the hand of man, and hence it is inferred that man 
was there when the current of the melting ice of the 



110 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

early glacial period bore them there. This would 
take man back thousands of years beyond the Qua- 
ternary age to his possible existence in America in 
the Tertiary age. 



"America possibly had citizens to spare while the 
eastern hemisphere was void of inhabitants." 

This article thus concludes: 

"In the midst of these perplexities, we can have 
no reason to doubt that the power which is said to 
have created man in Asia might have created him 
elsewhere, and placed him in habitable quarters in 
America before any part of the eastern hemisphere 
was ready for his occupancy. The first formed rocks 
which have yet been seen upon the globe, and the 
earliest forms of life yet discovered, and the oldest 
human relics which have yet been found, were in 
America. If, therefore, man first lived and died and 
laid down his bones in the western world before he 
died and laid them down in the eastern hemisphere, 
why should we look for his origin in the east instead 
of the west? Why not claim him where we first find 
his remains, instead of troubling ourselves about the 
time of his coming and the place whence he came? 
The Orientals have not been able in thousands of 
years to fix the latitude and longitude of the Garden 
of Eden, where the human race is claimed to have 
first begun existence, and as the question is still 
open, the occidentals may reasonably claim Ameri- 
ca as the first land above the ocean and the first in- 
habited by man, until the proof is made clear of an 
earlier inhabited continent." 



And Their Fulfillment 111 



The Prophecy Regarding Stephen A. 
Douglas 

A prophecy of surpassing interest, and one of trans- 
cending importance to the person affected, is the one 
made by Joseph Smith with respect to the life and destiny 
of Judge Stephen A. Douglas. 1 Judge Douglas was sit- 
ting on the bench of the Illinois judiciary during the 
residence of the Latter-day Saints in that state. He tried 
some of the cases in which Joseph Smith was defendant. 
He was at other times a candidate for office and had 
reason to be informed on all public matters and acquaint- 
ed with all people of influence and repute. An inti- 
mate and friendly relationship existed between him and 
the "Mormon" leader. On one occasion the judge and 
Joseph Smith had a long and important meeting, during 
w T hich the story of the expulsion of the Latter-day Saints 
from Missouri was narrated to the judge. This interview 
occupied fully three hours, and brought forth words of 



Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois was a self-made man of tre- 
mendous energy, a masterful politician, and an unrivaled debater. 
He came from a Vermont farm to the new western country, as a 
very young man, and rose rapidly through minor offices to a 
judgeship in the supreme court in Illinois. He was sent to the 
House of Representatives in 1843, and to the Senate in 1846. 
Although then but thirty-three years of age, Douglas immediately 
assumed an important place in the Senate, through his brilliam 
powers of debate. He was soon recognized as the leader of the 
Democratic party in the north, and after the death of Calhoun, 
Clay and Webster, he became the foremost figure in American 
public life. 



112 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

condemnation for the state officials of Missouri because 
of the culpability and turpitude of their conduct with 
respect to the treatment of the "Mormon" people. 

The conference, both cordial and friendly, terminated 
rather dramatically by the "Mormon" prophet making 
this remarkable prediction concerning Mr. Douglas: 

"Judge, you will aspire to the presidency of the 
United States ; and if you ever turn your hand against 
me or the Latter-day Saints, you will feel the weight 
of the hand of Almighty God upon you; and you 
will live to see and know that I have testified the 
truth to you, for the conversation of this day will 
stick to you through life." 

This prophecy was made on the eighteenth day of May, 
1843. William Clayton was present on the occasion, and 
to him we are indebted for the record of the incident. 

At the time of this event, Stephen A. Douglas was in 
his thirtieth year and though a bright and promising 
young man, he was scarcely known outside of his own 
state. He was decidedly lacking a national reputation. 
As time swept on, his political career took definite shape 
and he was elected to the Congress of the United States, 
serving in both bodies. There he became a conspicuous 
character and had much to do with the slavery question. 
His abilities soon won for him the recognized leadership 
of the Democratic party. 

While the star of Douglas was rapidly ascending to 
its zenith, the Deseret News, a small weekly paper pub- 
lished in the city of the Great Salt Lake, printed the in- 
terview of Douglas and Joseph Smith, giving the proph- 
ecy in full. This incident appeared in the regular order 
of the History of the Church which was then being pub- 



kmgm. * -. , , , n i - i jj ■■ 

BER A GREAT SALT LAKE CITV. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER if, K>«. VOLIHE Vf. ~ 



IT O^-J03E?H IKTH. 



|w*re fen *U i„ '„;!,• ". '.'. t,, > 






I fe »!U* ffoi.*b»». fcy (Si* p»»-r 



KT :!)- — - Jliriaui y 

- ike 8**i>, »^ 















TTie Deseret News publishes the prophecy concerning Stephen 
A. Douglas, in 1856, in the regular course of the History of the 
Church, which was then appearing in that weekly periodical. This 
was four years prior to the series of dramatic events which com- 
pletely fulfilled the prophecy. 
9 



114 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

lished in weekly instalments in that paper. This was in 
the year 1856. In that year the Democrats passed over 
their great leader, Stephen A. Douglas and nominated 
James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania. The Democratic 
party was successful in the election, Buchanan receiving 
one hundred and seventy-four electoral votes and Fremont 
receiving one hundred and fourteen. The presidential bee 
was busily buzzing in the Douglas bonnet during that 
year. One historian has this to say of the political situa- 
tion of that year : 

"It is true that Douglas could not hope to win the 
Democratic nomination for president without the 
favor of the South, and perhaps this fact is suffi- 
cient to account for his willingness to open the 
Kansas-Nebraska territory to slavery. For the men 
who in all probability would be his rivals for the 
nomination in 1856, were all, in one way or an- 
other, courting the favor of the South. These men 
were President Pierce, who was almost slavishly 
following the guidance of his Secretary of War, Jef- 
ferson Davis; Secretary of State, Marcey, who advo- 
cated the annexation of Cuba; and our minister to 
England, Buchanan, who signed the Ostend Mani- 
festo." 
In 1856 and 1857 the people of the east were greatly 
agitated over the "Mormons," because of rumors and 
dramatic stories that were brought to them by every 
tneans of communication then available. They were sto- 
ries of crime, outrages, disloyalty and high treason. 
Campaigners like effective issues. So Douglas, delib- 
eratly disregarding the advice and fearful warning of 
Joseph Smith, given in 1843, stepped upon the platform 
and took a hand in the "Mormon" affair. His long 



gSfOaY OF J03BPH SMITH. 

.May, IHYS. 






. and can only be discej 
cannot see it. bnt w! 



ee that it is all 



• purer eyr 

bodies "a 






The priest seemed pleased with" 
■S^Tl^-lKn-tna h uing anived at Vol- ^- and slated hi* i.it.Mitioii to j i s !t Xauvoo. 
■***{'. ,. f .. .„ o..ir./.v t-i«h tii^rT- ; A conference was h*id tu the Co!umu!a:i 
t»«fcWe rode home to.^e-JK'i; on out w,n nc J > *- . , - 

2tfa short time at hro.PeWs. Brothers < branches, hi-h pnests,^ ^er«, W pnos,». 
SB A &nith«:id -W. Woodruff -rode it. my l0 t^'ici.ers, o deacons, aiuv-^. members were 
^1 was asked if the hoiso would stand representee; -li» have be,n hapten su.ee las 
*P\ \ ■ ! i -. ..»•*.!•. ^ v<»« h>>«- 5 ,evfM conference, roanv have moved to Jwiuvoo. and 

«*** 'f Jh ^ Jn/ dr ;/ ^ »*ve been excommunicated. Foot ciders 

rtfciwperty t» the m,uu 01 judgmeat o. a ^ ^ ^.^ ^ ^^^ * 

^Mlowin, is from the jcrnal of Geo. : Jh«™day, IWWMeK M^lojU about Si 

BtiBotortous anti-Mormon, at ureen i jams, j . ? *4 

iS^^^^sjI^.t'tL^e \a ^ver^/^^a -itb Judge Stephen A, Doughy 
■CSm phi south or the house.- Jo?!*^ « F^«5 ft court.. After dmucr au; ge. 
fcrtrov opinion of W. W. Phelps as an Douglass requited Pre* alent Joseph to gne 
5 told him thatleon.idere/phelp, 1 ^ a br story ot the M:s*>nn persoc. .on 
ip-rt of an editor, and that was tie ' ^iich he did in a' very iflinaie mam*r tor, 
rwhen it came to- the cool discretion aboat three hours; he aiso .fcavo a relaUotiui 
kiy intrusted to an editor in the control M* J^rm-y to Vy aslmurton c v, and h,s apm.-j 
|#opiniom the soothing of enmity, hcS^tiou in beliatr of tbe^i >u. to M V ; u , 

- --.- . <*Knr*n. i Ste Pi eminent ■ O L < Ji.ir;.....i._.-u. Lgii .^~ -...-. --.-J >t 



aies were, from six to eight inches in I 

srence; much damage done. 

l*fey, lb. — At 11 o'clock, 1, with George ! 

gWilliam Clayton, Eliza and Lvdi.ipa'r- : 

|pmd J, JM. Smith, started for Carthage, ! 

we tarried about 1 half an hour convers- j 

^different individuals; when we started j 

i«$; arrived about Z\ p.m., and stayed j 

k G. Perkins' for the evening then [ 

|§£, P: Johnson's with William Clayton ; 

Before retiring, I gave brother and' 

bnson sotnednstructionsf on the priest- ! 

I patting. my hand on the knee of 'Wit- j 

lid, « Your life -is hid with Christ in | 

.-so are many others; nothing but the [ 

^ able sin can prevent yo;i from inher- | 

Jferaal glory, for yon are^seaded up hy the] 

§of the priesthood unto eternal life,] 

ken the step necessary for that pur- j 

| a man and his -wife- enter into apt" 

w * covenant, arid be "married for 'eter^j 
Idle in this probation, by$he power and! 
$£ of "the holy priesthood, they willf 
^increase-when they diz> that is, thatf? 
%$vl haye any children after the i'esur-|| 

3ufc'tho3e who are marrietl by theft 
|aud authority of the priesthood in tbi^f 
f eoatiajie without committing the sini 
r^the Holy Ghost, will continue to in-I 
ild hs^e children in the celestial glory.f 
pardonable stn is to shed innoeent blood., 

«aorv thereto; all other sins will be 



• President Smith, in concluding his remarks, : 
said, that ifvthe government v.h'ch received 
into hs 'coiTris the mone\; of ' citizens for its 
public lands, while its officials are roiling in : 
luxury /l* the expense of its public treasury,! 
cannot protect such citizens in their lives and ; 
property, it is an old granny anyhow, and I : 
prouhesy in the name of the Lord God of is-! 
rael, that unless file United States redress the! 
wrongs committed upon (he Saints in the State i 
of Missouri and punish the crimes committed j 
by her oificers, th it in a.few years the govern- j 
meat will be. utterly overthrown and wasted,) 
and there will not be so much as. a potsherd ; 
lift, for their wickedness in permitting the \ 
murder of men, women and children, and the! 
wholesale plunder and extermination of thou- J 
sands of her citizens to ^o unpunished; thereof, 
perpetrating a foul and corroding blot up„an the, 
lair ..fame of this great republic, the very 
thought of which would have caused the high 
minted' and patriotic framers of the Constitu- 
tion of t&e. J^nited States to. hide their faces 
with shame. - Judge yon will aspire to the 
Presidency of the United States, and if ever 
you tirra your hand against me or the Latter 
i>ay Saints, y on will feel the weight of the 
hand of the Almighty upon von; and you will 
Jive to see and Snow thai I haye testified the 
truth to you, for-the conversation of this ddy 
will stick to you through life. i 

He appears very friendly, and acknowledged j 
the truth and propriety of President Smith's*] 
remarks " --•*' 



Stephen A. Douglas prophecy published in the Deseret News, 
in 1856, four years before its complete fulfillment. 



116 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

acquaintance with the Latter-day Saints, his eminence 
as a public man, together with his brilliant abilities as 
an orator made his speech upon the subject a momentous 
one. It was delivered at Springfield, Illinois, June 12, 
1857. A complete report of the address was published 
in the Missouri Republican, exactly six days later. Ac- 
cording to that report the great Douglas handled the 
question "without gloves." He grouped his arraignment 
of the "Mormon" people under three headings, some- 
thing like this: 

I. Nine-tenths of the inhabitants of Utah territory are 
foreign-born. They refuse to become citizens, or to recog- 
nize the Government of the United States as permanent 
authority. 

II. "Mormons" are bound by horrible oaths, and terri- 
ble penalties to recognize and maintain the authority of 
Brigham Young as paramount to that of the United States. 
And that they expect ultimately to subvert the Govern- 
ment of the United States to that of Brigham Young. 

III. That this alien government of Brigham Young 
is forming alliance with the Indian tribes, inciting them 
to hostility and organizing bands of "Danites" or "de- 
stroying angels," etc., etc. 

Now read his own words : 

"Let us have these facts in official shape before 
the president and Congress and the country wilJ 
learn that in the performance of the high and solemn 
duty devolving upon the executive and Congress 
there will be no vascilating or hesitating policy. It 
will be as prompt as the peal that follows the flash 
— as stern and unyielding as death. Should such a 
state of things actually exist as we are led to infer 
from the reports — and such information comes in an 



And Their Fulfillment 117 

official shape — the knife must be applied to this 
pestiferous, disgusting cancer which is gnawing into 
the very vitals of the body politic. It must be cut 
out by the roots and seared over by the red hot iron 
of stern, unflinching law. ... To protect them 
further in their treasonable, disgusting and bestial 
practices would be a disgrace to the country — a dis- 
grace to humanity — a disgrace to civilization, and a 
disgrace to the spirit of the age," etc., etc. 

(See Senator Douglas' advice to Joseph Smith through 
Orson Hyde, page 59.) 

The mail was carried wi*h emigrant trains in those 
days, consequently the papers containing this arraign- 
ment of the "Mormon" people did not reach Great Salt 
Lake City for some weeks. On Sept. 2, 1857, the whole 
editorial page of the courageous little Deseret News was 
devoted to a reprint of and answer to Mr. Douglas' bitter 
speech. Albert Carrington was editor of the News at the 
time. The editorial runs over the allotted page and con- 
cludes elsewhere in the same issue with this incomparably 
bold and fearless rebuke and overwhelming condemna- 
tion. After reviewing Judge Douglas' vehement de- 
nunciation of the Latter-day Saints the editor addresses 
Douglas as though it were Joseph Smith reiterating his 
warning of fourteen years before: 

"That you may thoroughly understand that you 
have voluntarily, knowingly and of choice sealed 
your damnation, and by your own chosen course have 
closed your chance for the presidential chair, 
through disobeying the council of Joseph, which you 
formerly sought and prospered by following, a^d 
that you in common with us, may testify to all the 
world that Joseph Smith was a true Prophet, the 



204 

THE DESERET NEWS. 






^ ^:-r:-.y _Jf$ 7 

ALBERT 'CARRINOTOX,' EDITOR. 



j 
GREAT SALT LAKE CITY, WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 2. 



COMMENTS 



w 



UPON 

"Tho Eem&rlis of Hon. Stephen Am Did Doug- 
las, 
delivered in* tut: statk norsw at -fpkincj- 

FFKLO. ILLINOIS, OX THE lOTil .TrSK, 1R5;; ,? 
AKP PKTNTKD IX TUB MISSOURI JlEi*U ; BLliUN 
OF JUNE 18. 

In compliance with a request, Senator Doug- 
las remarked at some length upon the three 
following 'points*; 

"1st. The present condition and prospects! 
of Kmmn. 1 

2nd. Ti) e pr i n c i pi e $ af»i r in ed .by t h e P ! i nr r m e j 
Court of the United States in the Dred Scott! 
ease. 

3rd. The condition of filings in Utah, and 
the appropriate remedies for existing evils." 

The Senator's remarks upon his 1st and 2nd 
points will be passed over very briefly, as the j| 

past and present condition of affairs in Kansas j 
are very well understood; and it is not prob-.j 
able that either the pro or anti slavery parry ; ; 



Editorial comment on the famous speech of Douglas on the Mor- 
mon question, in which he recommended the "pestiferous . . . 
cancer must but cut out by the very roots, and seared over by the 
red-hot iron of stern, unflinching law." 



Jraiiii> vnat you nmy nave »— i 



lesihnony of the truth of the* a^rtions that yoa 
did knot?/ Joseph £.hd this people and .the charac- 
ter of th'-ir enemies, {>ud neither class have ^ 
changed, only as the Saints b «ve heeorne E?:TTEa | 
irid theirenennes worse.) and also that you may 
thoroughly uuaVmand that yon have voluntarily, 
knowingly, and of choice sealed your damnation 
uid by your ov,- i eho*?*M coarse hive closed your 
»:iij:; f j{.: for the Pre-s ideaii.il chair, tlircugh dlso- 
')< ying the counsel of Joseph, which yoft formerly 
oi!/hf, and prospered by foUowirg, and that yoa, 
In common with. us, may testify to all the world 
tint 3 sZ<> if U svaa a trne Prophet, the following ex- 
tract (torn the * History of Joseph S;mih' i* vgdiu 
printed for your benefit and U kindly recem- 

I feuded to your careful perusal and most candid 

! eonsiu« r > io - — 

[Jfroui the Deseret Xcws, S*p, £G ? 1C5';.] 



Tlnn ?d*y, M ty 18, r : 4'j. — We left Macefhir.ft | 
b > ti 8f.< a. fii./aiti arihvd a- C;: thane at JO.. 
T * ' 1 owing brief ^ce »nut ;s ?r m the jour- J 

■ \\ ..! am Cjavt(!ti, who w«s i^resent: — 
"DiurjiJ vvhh Judge Sr«;»heji A. I> ;u£la* f wlie j 
ta irv? Imflr at rourt. Ar>r*d : n;ier Judge DoU£- . 
la* r^qu**,- ed Pre*? 'dent Ju-ej h to give him a his- j 
lory ol tic Ml-houii per^onU^, winch he Ck! In | 
a very minute maiui r for aboU tht\~2 h m«; he j 
$!*o £ *ve a relation of his j un^vlo \Va ; h:ir- j 
tea ci'\% :nd hi* r-v;h'«t;ju In behalf of lha I 
BuMs -o Mr. V:,!, i: tan, tU Pv *-\i,-ui of the j 

h<'d 8'rl"-, lo ; renre>«, h?.il .ur. V :m BureriNi 
nu€ .;!.■»::!.'' eu - re:n y» ; C*eu ' .lem'-MV, vo* *r c m e the 
just, httt I can do no-.hte**- Tor v*.**.;;' and <; ,.^ l?M 
i t:nfWlti:& mj.ime.rjlj ..which he wax treated by ;;i-,*it 1 

^£ fAe conclusion of the editorial answering Mr. Douglas, the 
Deseret News reprints the prophecy of Joseph Smith, which it 
printed the year previous, for his "benefit and careful perusal" 
boldly adding that he had sealed his own doom and had "closed 
his chances for the Presidential chair." This was in 1857, three 
years before his nomination and subsequent defeat. 



120 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

following extract from the history of Joseph Smith 
is again printed for your benefit, and is kindly 
recommended to your careful perusual and most 
candid consideration." 

Then followed the prophecy which was printed in the 
same paper on September 24th of the year previous. "God 
is not mocked; as ye sow, so shall ye reap." 

Now mark the course of this man standing within 
reaching distance of the highest of earthly honors. 

This was the anti-climax of his career. He was an 
avowed candidate for the presidency and by reason of 
his unequalled leadership, his commanding position 
seemed to be without a rival. Yet he had put at naught 
the word of God. Writing of him in 1858, Muzzey says: 

"Towards the end of Douglas' second term in the 
United States Senate, he returned to his own state in 
the summer of 1858 to promote his political inter- 
ests. He was in disgrace with the administration 
and in considerable private embarrassment. A great 
part of his fortune had been swept away by a severe 
financial panic which had come upon the country in 
1857, as a result of over-confidence in the early 
fifties and too sanguine investments in western farms 
and railways. 

"The great conventions of 1860, which were to 
nominate candidates for the most important presi- 
dential election in our history, began with the meet- 
ing of the delegates at Charleston, South Carolina, 
April 23rd. Six states bolted the convention over an 
unwillingness to accept the Douglas platform which 
stood for popular sovereignty. These bolters were 
intense believers in slavery as a right — a moral, so- 
cial and political right." 



And Their Fulfillment 121 

"The two wings of the Democratic party re-as- 
sembled in June, at Baltimore, the 'regulars' nomin- 
ated Douglas and the pro-slavery 'bolters' nominated 
John Breckinridge, vice-president under Buchanan." 

The wildest enthusiasm followed the nomination of Mr. 
Douglas. His popularity, his brilliant talents in debate, 
his political leadership, his senatorial achievements gave 
him great advantage, especially over the unknown, un- 
gainly, western man whom the Republicans had named in 
the "Wigwam" at Chicago. Another advantage or as- 
surance seemed to exist in the comfortable majority the 
people had given the then present Democratic administra- 
tion. Lincoln and Douglas stumped the country together. 
Their debates were epoch-making of themselves. But 
when the returns of that November 6th election were all 
canvassed, the "rail splitter," "honest Abe" Lincoln was 
found to have received 180 votes of the electoral college 
while Douglas received but 12. Only two states in the 
electoral college voted for Stephen A. Douglas. They 
were Missouri and New Jersey. 

Scarcely anything remains to be said of Mr. Douglas 
after that unhappy, fateful political contest. Twenty 
days less than one year after his nomination by the demo- 
cratic convention, "while yet in the prime of his man- 
hood, — 48 years of age — Stephen A. Douglas died at his 
home in Chicago, a disappointed, not to say, broken- 
hearted man." 

After his defeat Apostle Orson Hyde wrote him a per- 
sonal letter which the Deseret News published in Novem- 
ber of that year. This letter, which is reproduced from 
the files of the News possesses the value of identifying 
another witness to this remarkable prophecy. 

The divine inspiration of this great manifestation is 



THE LATTER-DAY FAINTS' 

MILLENNIAL STAK. 



*' We hane almmmtire sure word #f prophecy ; ichereunto yrdo well that ye t>.:keh??ti, as m>ite a Unfit 
thutshineth in u dark place-, until the dav dawn and the dwj star arise in y&ttr hfari.,i. ,t — Pktek. 



No. 9, Vol, XXI. 



Saturday, February 26, 1859. 



Price Cue Petny, 



President 
marks, said 



Smith, 



HISTORY OF JOSEPH SMITH* 

in concluding his re- | ordained brother 



> 



~7< 



L Jnd ? e '- 

you wlir aspire to liSe "Presidency oITThe 
United States ; and if you ever turn 
your hand against me or the Latter-day 
Saints, you will feel the weight of the 
hand of the Almighty upon you; and you 
will live to see and knpw that I have tes- 
tified the truth to you; for the conversation 
of this day will stick to you through life. 

He appeared very friendly, arid acknow~ 
ledged the truth and propriety of President 
Smith's remarks/* )f 



worthy of thg o 

IL Anderson vii 
ment in Lee C< 
Spent three wi 
one Priest, and 
La Salle Court; 
Prom thence^ 
visited a large I 
con sin Territoi 
dation of a g? 
There are now; 



Prophecy concerning Stephen A. Douglas, published in the 
above periodical in 1859. 



SRET NEWS. 



^^v-SN^^-JS ■^/• > -^r- i ^ J -'' ^^-HigiVy^ v^a 




JUDGE~ DOUGLAS." 

Ephraim, Utah Territory, 
Nov. 27, 1860. 

Will the Judge now acknowledge that 
Joseph' Smith was a true Prophet? If he will 
not, does he recollect a certain conversation 
had with Mr* Smith, at the hoMe of Sheriff 
Backenstos, in Carthage, Illinois, in the year 
1843, in which Mr^ Smith said to him: "You 
will yet aspire to the Presidency of the United 
States. But if you ever raise your hand, or 
your voice against the Latter Day Saints, 
you shall never be President of the United 
States." 

Does Judge Douglas recollect that in a pub- 
lic speech delivered by him in the year 1857, 
at Springfield, Illinois, of comparing the Mor- 
mon community, then constituting the inhabi- 
tants of Utah Territory, to a "loathsome 
ulcer on the body politic;" and of recom- 
mending th* knife* to*be applied te cut it out? 

Among other things the Judge will doubt- 
less recollect that I was present and heacd the 
conversation between him and Joseph Smith, 
at Mr. Backenstos' residence in Carthage, be- 
fore alluded to. 

Now, Judge, what think you about Joseph 
Smith and Mormonism? 

ORSON HYDE. 



Letter of Orson Hyde, addressed to Stephen A. Douglas, after 
the election the results which fulfilled the prophecy of Joseph 
Smith concerning Mr. Douglas. This letter also makes known 
the fact that Mr. Hyde was present when this celebrated prophecy 
was made. 



124 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

proven at the hands of time. Its genuineness is equally 
well established. Its publication long prior to the cul- 
minating events it foreshadowed are also proven beyond 
a doubt. 

It was first published in the Deseret News of September 
24, 1856. It next appeared in the Millennial Star, a 
Liverpool publication, in February, 1859. It was re- 
published in the Deseret News in September of 1857. 

Edward W. Tullidge, official historian for Salt Lake 
City, whose work was published as late as 1885, says of 
this Douglas prophecy: 

4 

"This prediction of the "Mormon" Prophet in his 
conversation with Douglas is singularly authentic 
and was published years before the Illinois Senator 
recommended the Government to 'cut the loathsome 
ulcer out. 5 " 

It should be added that Mr. Tullidge was in no sense 
an orthodox "Mormon." In fact at one time he left the 
Church entirely. He was here in very early days and 
was one of the most gifted men of letters in his time. 

So, this incident, though entirely personal in its char- 
acter, affords another piece of incontrovertible evidence 
to the divine mission and inspiration of Joseph Smith. 
Time — truth — triumph ! 



And Their Fulfillment 125 



Book of Mormon— A Prophecy 

The Book of Mormon is a prophecy of a new gospel 
dispensation which was opened at the time of its coming 
forth. 

The Book of Mormon is a volume of prophecy and is 
also the fulfillment of innumerable prophecies. It was 
translated by Joseph Smith by "the gift and power of 
God," and was published to the world in 1829 — a decade 
less than a century ago. It purports to be a religious and 
political history of distinct and separate peoples who 
occupied this land at, for the most part, widely remote 
periods. Both peoples were divinely led to this land 
from the eastern hemisphere. 

They, through their prophets, were in more or less 
constant communication with the Deity. From him they 
received a very clear and exalted conception of the mis- 
sion and destiny of this land of America. To them it 
was a "choice land," to be held in reserve until modern 
times when its great role among the nations of the earth 
would be played. Some one has said in recent times, 
"One of God's greatest experiments, the development of 
North America." 

These declarations concerning the "land of liberty" — 
America — are largely responsible for the lofty patriotism 
of the Latter-day Saints. No people of religious develop- 
ment could have a higher and more exalted conception 
of the destiny and mission of their country than do the 
Latter-day Saints. It is as deeply written in their souls as 



126 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

it is in the base and fabric of their sacred literature. God 
hath spoken it, who can deny it? 

So was it with the ancient inhabitants of the land. Here 
are a few sentiments held by them concerning this land: 

"The land of promise, which was choice above 
all other lands, which the Lord God had preserved 
for a righteous people; . . . 

"And now we can behold the decrees of God con- 
cerning this land, that it is a land of promise, and 
whatsoever nation shall possess it, shall serve God, 
or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his 
wrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of 
his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened 
in iniquity." . . . 

1. "A choice landP 

"The discovery of the New World by Columbus 
was the most dramatic incident in the secular his- 
tory of mankind. It may be in the moral vicissi- 
tudes of the race something of heroism, of sacrifice 
more grand and ennobling has occured; but among 
the distinctly human events nothing so wonderful 
and inspiring has ever been witnessed as the uplift 
of the darkness and the revelation of the dawn on 
that October morning when 'Land Ho!' was the cry 
from the prow of the Pinta." — From Ellis' History 
of Our Country. 

Draper says: 

"The discovery of America agitated Europe to its 
deepest foundations. All classes of men were af- 
fected. The populace at once went wild with the 
lust of gold and a love of adventure. Well might 



And Their Fulfillment 127 

Pomponius Laetus shed tears of joy when tidings of 
the great event reached him. Well might Leo. X., a 
few years later, sit up till far in the night reading to 
his sister and his cardinals the 'Oceania' of Anghi- 
era." 

And these early enthusiasts on the greatness of Ameri- 
ca had only a most meagre suggestion of her real great- 
ness. She has in little more than a century developed 
the greater portion of the world's wealth. She has with- 
in the last five years, literally saved a war-mad world 
from starvation, as well as from a merciless and tyran- 
nical despotism. She is creditor to Europe in many bil- 
lions, and Europe, and humanity as a whole, are debtors 
to America for something that cannot be measured in 
treasure — the introduction of a genuine democracy in the 
earth, and finally, its complete preservation, if not its 
perpetuation for all time to come. 

Speaking of America's resources, an authority of fi- 
nance made this remarkable disclosure concerning what 
our country was able to do during the recent war : 

"In the few months that we were engaged in war, 
the expenditures made, the obligations authorized by 
the Government exceed all the expenditures of our 
Government for all purposes during the prior one 
hundred and forty years, including the cost of all 
the wars we have fought; of all the pensions we have 
paid; of all the buildings and public works the Gov- 
ernment has constructed; of all the navies we had 
built and all the canals we had dug; yet after all this 
tremendous outlay our resources were not seriouslv 
strained. Had it been necessary to win the war, all 
that expenditure of treasure would have been re- 
peated over and over again and again; and the loyal- 



128 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

ty and patriotism of our people would have sup- 
ported the program and our resources would have 
withstood the strain." 

And of her political mission was it not written in the 
ages past: "And he will lift up an ensign to the nations 
from afar?" 

Has she not been the political hope of humanity from 
the day of her founding? 

Of the importance of her place in the world let the 
great Webster speak: 

"If in our case, the representative system ulti- 
mately fails, popular governments must be pro- 
nounced impossible. No combination of circum- 
stances more favorable to the experiment can ever 
be expected to occur. The last hopes of mankind, 
therefore rest with us; and if it should be proclaimed 
that our example had become an argument against 
the experiment, the knell of popular liberty would 
be sounded throughout the earth." 

In the light of the important part which America has 
played in the world's great war she was obviously proven 
to be "a choice land, which the Lord God had re- 
served for a righteous people," as well as for a sacred 
and worthy purpose. It is as plain to the world today 
as it was to those ancient American prophets that God 
had a mission and a destiny for America. 

2. "And he that fighteth against Zion shall perish, 
saith God" 

DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST BY SPAIN. 

Immediately upon the discovery of America, the King 
and Queen of Spain sent a representative to the court of 



And Their Fulfillment 129 

Pope Alexander VI for the purpose of securing in them- 
selves a good and sufficient title to the territory thus 
found. Precedent had already paved the way, and with 
the conviction evidently in mind that "pagans and infi- 
dels have no lawful property in their lands and goods, 
but that the children of God may rightfully take them 
away," the bull was issued. Acting on the further as- 
sumption that "all countries under the sun are subject 
of right to papal disposal," the transfer was made to 
Spain "in the fulness of apostolic power, of all lands 
west and south of a line drawn from the arctic to the Ant- 
arctic pole one hundred leagues west of the Azores." 
(This must have been one of the largest real estate trans- 
fers of the season ; at least it was the most important one. ) 

It directed that unbelieving nations be subdued, "and 
that no pains be spared in reducing the Indians to 
Christianity." 

Subsequent events prove with what nicety of expres- 
sion that word "reduce" was used. The Indians were 
even denied common Adamic descent. (Cortez and Piz- 
zaro literally wrote their names across the vales and 
mountains of Mexico and Peru in living streams of blood. 

Under such headings as the ones that follow, Draper 
describes the deeds of Spain in a land "consecrated to 
human liberty:" 

"The American Tragedy," and "The Crime of 
Spain." 

"The lust for gold was only too ready to find its 
Justification in the obvious conclusion [viz.: that the 
Indians were not members of the human family] ; 
and the Spaniards, with appalling atrocity, proceeded 
to act towards these unfortunates as though they did 
not belong to the human race. Already their lands 
10 



130 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

and goods had been taken from them by apostolic 
authority. Their persons were next seized, under the 
text that the heathen are given as an inheritance, 
and the uttermost parts of the earth as a possession. 
It was one unspeakable outrage, one unutterable 
ruin, without discrimination of age or sex. Those 
who died not under the lash in a tropical sun died 
in the darkness of the mine. From sequestered sand- 
banks, where the red flamingo fishes in the gray of 
the morning; from fever-stricken mangrove thickets, 
and the gloom of impenetrable forests; from hiding 
places in the clefts of the rocks and the solitude of 
invisible caves; from the eternal snows of the Andes, 
where there was no witness but the all-seeing sun, 
there went up to God a cry of human despair. By 
millions upon millions, whole races and nations were 
remorselessly cut off. The Bishop of Chiapa affirms 
that more than fifteen millions were exterminated by 
his time! From Mexico and Peru a civilization that 
might have instructed Europe was crushed out." 

Here Draper asks: "Is it for nothing that Spain has 
been made a hideous skeleton among living nations?" 
He answers: "Had not her punishment overtaken her, 
men would have surely said, 'There is no retribution, 
there is no God?" He continues in the fearful indict- 
ment: "It has been her evil destiny to ruin two civili- 
zations. Oriental and Occidental, and to be ruined 
thereby herself. With circumstances of dreadful bar- 
barity she expelled the Moors, who had become children 
of her soil by as long a residence as the Normans have 
had in England from William the Conqueror to our time. 
In America she destroyed races more civilized than her- 
self. Expulsion and emigration have deprived her of 



And Their Fulfillment 131 

her best blood, her great cities have sunk into insignifi- 
cance, and towns that once had more than a million of 
inhabitants can now show only a few scanty thousands." 

With such a history as this in a land which had been 
dedicated to the cause of Freedom, little wonder that the 
perpetrator of such crimes should meet a speedy and 
withering judgment at the hands of the God who had 
uttered these unalterable decrees. 

And, as if to affirm and verify these decrees, this na- 
tion some score of years ago, in the name of humanity 
arose in righteous indignation and freed the hemisphere 
of this ancient unconscionable despot. She was forced 
to surrender her last Occidental possession when Cuba 
was let free from her cruel grasp. And thus the greatest 
prize, the richest possession ever held by earthly monarch 
was lost to her forever. 

God had declared centuries ago that he would "fortify 
this land against all other nations," and it was further 
decreed that "he that fighteth against Zion shall perish, 
saith God." Thus the fatal verdict fell upon Spain. 

3. "And I will fortify this land against all other na- 
tions." 

The great powers of the earth were contending for su- 
premacy in the land. Spain was early on the recession 
as the foresight of France turned her penetrating eye to- 
ward America. England's superior statesmanship was 
steadily supplanting France. Then the newly born na- 
tion arose in resistence to the foreign encroachments. 

"The armies rose from out the earth, 
And great ships loomed upon the sea, 

And Liberty had second birth 
In blood and fire and victory!" 



132 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

Three great empires were exercising temporary domin- 
ion over the land. Three sovereign powers with Eng- 
land rapidly rising to supreme control. But the God of 
this land had outlined an altogether different program. 
Behold the miracle of the God of nations turing their 
greedy conflicts into a glorious consummation of his 
own well-defined plans and purposes! Let the old his- 
torian Marcus Wilson, relate the wonderful story as he 
interpreted the unfolding plans of the Almighty: 

"Thus closed the most important war in which 
England had ever been engaged, — a war which arose 
wholly out of her ungenerous treatment of her 
American colonies. The expense of blood and treas- 
ure which this war caused England was enormous; 
nor, indeed, did her European antagonists suffer 
much less severely. The United States was the only 
country that could look to any beneficial results 
from the war, and these were obtained by a strange 
union of opposing motives and principles unequalled 
in the annals of history. France and Spain, the ar- 
bitrary despots of the old world had stood forth as 
the protectors of an infant republic, and had com- 
, bined, contrary to all the principles of their politi- 
cal faith, to establish the rising liberties of America. 
They seemed but as blind instruments in the hands 
of providence, employed to aid in the founding of 
a nation which should cultivate those republican 
virtues that were destined yet to regenerate the 
world upon the principles of universal intelligence, 
and eventually to overcome the time-worn system of 
tyrannical usurpation of the few over the many." 

4. "Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever na- 
tion shall possess it, shall be free from bondage, 



And Their Fulfillment 133 

and from captivity, and from all other nations un- 
der heaven, if they will but serve the God of the 
land, who is Jesus Christ" 

The heritage of a righteous occupancy of the land of 
America is perfect freedom. 

The discoverers of America came as conquerors and 
not as colonizers or home seekers. Lust for gold, and 
love of conquest never built homes, but have destroyed 
them by thousands. The Pilgrim Fathers, the Huguenots 
and the Puritans were essentially home makers. They 
came to this land to live, not to plunder and destroy. 
Thus America received from the Old World the virile, 
the serious, the home-loving, the heroic and the brave, 
whom Webster befittingly styled "the best blood of 
Europe." The home is the greatest paladium of freedom. 
It is the greatest resist ent to encroachment. It is the 
greatest inspiration to defensive combat. It is the great- 
est justification and the surest foundation for independ- 
ence. This is a land that can supply, more perfectly than 
any other, the infinite variety of man's wants, hence, the 
natural elements of home making are here. With these 
abounding, independence becomes natural and also inev- 
itable. 

Thus while Spain, France, and England were engag- 
ing in contests of diplomacy and strategy, often resort- 
ing to arms, the real seeds of patriotism were making 
sturdy growth in the thrifty colonies which were spread- 
ing throughout New England. When once men become 
tillers of the soil, which they call their own, a wholesome 
and abiding patriotism becomes firmly rooted in it. So, 
when a king of wretched mental endowments, pursuing 
a narrow-minded policy, persists in levying oppressive 
taxes upon the home of patriots, resentment is inevit- 



134 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

able. Thus England, unfortunate in having a reaction- 
ary monarch on her throne, alienated the loyal colonist of 
America and lost the greatest possession over which she 
ever exercised sovereign authority. 

It was inevitably so, however. The patriots at first 
flouted the idea of separation. They patiently and hum- 
bly plead for redress and adjustment of grievances. But 
King George III. persisted in provoking them to resent- 
ment. Let these noble declarations of causes and neces- 
sity of taking up arms, as framed in Philadelphia in 
1775, speak for their aspirations: 

"Our cause is just. Our union is perfect. Our in- 
ternal resources are great, and, if necessary, foreign 
assistance is undoubtedly obtainable. We grate- 
fully acknowledge, as signal instances of the Divine 
favor toward us, that his providence would not per- 
mit us to be called into this severe controversy, un- 
til we were grown up to our present strength, had 
been previously exercised in war -like operations, and 
possessed of the means of defending ourselves. With 
hearts fortified with these animating reflections, we 
most solemnly, before God and the world declare, 
that, exerting the utmost energy of these powers, 
which our beneficent Creator hath graciously be- 
stowed upon us, the arms we have been compelled by 
our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of ev- 
ery hazard, with unabating firmness and persever- 
ance, employ for the preservation of our liberties; 
being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather 
than live slaves. 

"Lest this declaration should disquiet the minds 
of our friends and fellow subjects in any part of 
the empire, we assure them that we mean not to dis- 



And Their Fulfillment 135 

solve that union which has so long and so happily 
subsisted between us, and which we sincerely wish 
to see restored. Necessity has not yet driven us into 
that desperate measure, or induced us to excite any 
other nation to war against them. We have not 
raised armies with ambitious designs of separating 
from Great Britain, and establishing independent 
states. We fight not for glory or for conquest. We 
exhibit to mankind the remarkable spectacle of a 
people attacked by unprovoked enemies, without 
any imputation or even suspicion of offense. They 
boast of their privileges and civilization, and yet 
proffer no milder conditions than servitude or 
death." 

Then came, contrary to their cherished traditions and 
sincere wishes, the inevitable step by which "whatsoever 
nation shall possess it [this land], shall be free from 
bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations 
under heaven," in the Declaration of Independence. 

"We . . . solemnly publish and declare, That 
these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be 
free and independent states; that they are absolved 
from all allegiance to the British Crown and that all 
political connection between them and the State of 
Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that 
as free and independent states, they have full power 
to levy w T ar, conclude peace, contract alliances, es- 
tablish commerce, and do all other acts and things 
which independent states may of right do. And for 
the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance 
on the protection of Divide Providence, we mutually 
pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our 
sacred honor." 



136 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

5. "A land of liberty" and "no kings upon the land" 

The Book of Mormon, by the mouth of one of its 
prophets who lived some six hundred years B. C., made 
this prophetic declaration concerning the land of Amer- 
ica: 

"And this land shall be a land of liberty unto 
the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the 
land, who shall raise up unto the Gentiles; 

"And I will fortify this land against all other na- 
tions; 

"And he that fighteth against Zion shall perish, 
saith God; 

"For he that raiseth up a king against me, shall 
perish, for I, the Lord, the king of heaven, will be 
their king, and I will be a light unto them forever 
that hear my words." 

This prediction regarding the land of America, and 
its occupancy by Gentile nations seems to refer entirely 
to times subsequent to its discovery by Columbus. 

In the Book of Mormon this land is called the inheri- 
tance of the descendants of Joseph, but it also says that 
the "Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land." These 
are the "times of the Gentiles" and they are today the 
recipients of Divine favor as never before. During this 
great and favored period of history this land, which was 
held in reserve, was to become inhabited. Here Zion was 
to be built up and to it "all nations" should "flow." 
Hence we conclude that from the time of the discovery, 
"there shall be no kings upon the land, who shall raise 
up unto the Gentiles." 

It is remarkable that so few attempts have been made 



And Their Fulfillment 137 

to establish thrones in America. Perhaps the most sub- 
stantial barrier has been the Monroe Doctrine, although, 
there has, for the most part, been so little real force be- 
hind that "doctrine" that its very weakness has invited 
more than one European monarch to attempt to "smash 
it." Be that as it may, it is a very remarkable thing 
that the Book of Mormon decree against kings should 
find such extraordinary confirmation as this very his- 
toric pronouncement affords. 

It defied all the world to attempt to set up any author- 
ity of their own, or to interfere with any of the independ- 
ent governments then existing in North or South Amer- 
ica. (According to Joseph Smith the whole of America, 
both North and South, constitutes the land of Zion.) 

In a word the real meaning of the Monroe Doctrine is, 
"Hands off" and that too, to all the world. Read the 
Doctrine : 

"The American continents, by the free and in- 
dependent condition which they have assumed and 
maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as 
subjects for future colonization for European pow- 
ers. . . . We should consider any attempt on 
their part to extend their system to any portion of 
this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and 
safety. With the existing colonies or dependencies 
of any European power we have not interfered and 
shall not interfere. But with the governments who 
have declared their independence and maintained it, 
and whose independence we have, on great con- 
sideration and just principles, acknowledged, we 
could not view any interposition for the purpose of 
oppressing or controlling, in any other manner, their 
destiny, by any European power, in any other light 



*138 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposi- 
tion toward the United States" 

One could imagine that the Book of Mormon prophet 
might have been standing at the elbow of President 
Monroe when he signed the document as it was handed 
to him by his Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams. 
For the Monroe Doctrine is nothing more than the Book 
of Mormon prophecy put in the form of a state paper. 
It has been tested and tried. It has been called the 
"most magnificent bluff in history, and so far the most 
successful." At any rate, it has stood. It has been 
affirmed and re-affirmed by President after President 
until it is now upheld and proclaimed as with the voice 
of a hundred millions of people. So important is it in 
the estimation of many of the American people, that the 
proposed League of Nations is not considered satis- 
factory to this country until the other nations shall not 
only recognize the doctrine, but actually accept it, and 
that, too, as it shall at all times be interpreted and ap- 
plied by the United States. Could a great nation pur- 
sue a definite course of action with respect to a fixed 
policy, with more steadfast purpose than our nation 
has in maintaining this Doctrine? For well nigh one 
hundred years we have walked, without deviation, in the 
path pointed out for us more than two thousand years 
ago by the prophets of ancient America. 

"THE EMPIRE OF MEXICO." 

While the United States was in the midst of the great 
struggle of the Civil War, Napoleon III. thought the 
opportune time had arrived for him to test the integrity 
of the Monroe Doctrine. France had long appreciated 
the strength that colonial possessions in America would 



And Their Fulfillment 139 

bring to her. She wished to extend her trade in that 
direction. A handsome kingdom on the other side of 
the Atlantic appealed to "Napoleon the Little" as an 
alluring enterprise. Especially, if it proved to be a 
kingdom of stability, where a comfortable throne would 
be made secure. So, he decided to try it out on some- 
body else until it should get beyond the experimental 
stage. Maximilian of Austria, brother of the late Francis 
Joseph, Emperor of Austria, was the victim. Archduke 
Maximilian was escorted by fifty thousand Frenchmen 
who were expected to see that he did not fall from his 
"throne of Mexico." With this French army, the em- 
peror was soon in control of strife-torn Mexico. He was 
coronated on April 10, 1864. The United States, having 
on its hands quite a little domestic problem, could not 
attend the coronation ceremonies, as she would have 
liked. She thought the affair should have been delayed 
until such time as she could attend. It really was dis- 
courteous to treat a close neighbor so. The United 
States refused to recognize the empire. And when our 
own domestic problem was finally settled, we notified 
Napoleon that his make-shift "Emperor of Mexico" was 
altogether out of style in America and that he had better 
take him back to Europe. Secretary Seward had also 
notified him that we could not allow the Monroe Doc- 
trine to be so infringed. Napoleon had observed what 
had occurred at Vicksburg and Gettysburg and began 
to lose faith in the success of his would-be ally, the 
Southern Confederacy. In 1866 he withdrew his fifty 
thousand troops from Mexico. He was about to take 
Maximilian back, when, contrary to all the rules of eti- 
quette, the Mexican revolutionists took him and some of 
his generals out to Queretaro, where they were court- 
martialed and shot to death. Th s the short-livpd "F w - 



140 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

pire of Mexico" proved an evanescent dream, coming to 
a quick and tragic end. 

"There shall be no kings raised up unto the Gentiles 
upon this land" 

UNHAPPY DOM PEDRO OF BRAZIL. 

It is true that an Imperial throne was established in 
Brazil in the early part of the last century. It passed 
through many vicissitudes and revolutions. Emperors 
were deposed; regencies reigned for juvenile kings; and, 
finally, the emperor was ordered to "leave the country 
with his family within twenty-four hours." In the dark 
of the night the imperial family was taken on board a 
cruiser. When the ship left the harbor it carried with 
it, not only the royal family, but as if to rid America of 
every vestige of imperialism it took with it the cata- 
falque, i. e. the imperial stage with all its pompous 
drapings, throne and all. 

And that is the last word of royal occupancy in mod- 
ern times of any fragment of both North and South 
America. 

"This shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and 
there shall be no kings upon the land" 



And Their Fulfillment 141 



Orson Hyde 

"Where there is no vision the people perish." 

— Proverbs. 

"Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he re- 
vealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." — 
Amos. 

The life's ministry of Orson Hyde, a member of the 
quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus 
Christ of Latter-day Saints, affords some interesting as 
well as remarkable instances of prophetic manifestations 
and their striking fulfillment. It is used as a demon- 
stration of the evidence of prophecy which has char- 
acterized the Gospel dispensation now upon the earth. 
Time affords opportunity to verify these predictions. 
Some of them arise above the individual into the domain 
of racial, if not world, concern. But, in every instance, 
they are the unmistakable evidences of a Divine com- 
munication. Particular interest arises out of the re- 
cent occurrences in the Far East. 

Orson Hyde was baptized by Sidney Rigdon in the 
fall of 1831, and was confirmed a member of the Church 
by the Prophet Joseph Smith. He was called to the 
apostleship through the instrumentality of the Three 
Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, and was set apart to 
that sacred office by the Witnesses on the 15th day of 
February, 1835. Oliver Cowdery conferred the ordina- 
tion blessing, and, in addition to other endowments of 



142 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

ordination, blessed him in the spirit of prophecy as fol- 
lows: 



"That he should go forth to the nations of the 

earth to proclaim the Gospel; . . . and that 

he should go forth according to the commandment, 

both Jew and Gentile; . . . and go from land 

to land and from sea to sea." 

At the time of his confirmation as a member of the 

Church, or subsequently, he was blessed by Joseph Smith 

with the prophetic promises that follow: 

"In due time thou shalt go to Jerusalem, the land 
of thy fathers, and be a watchman unto the house of 
Israel; and by thy hands shall the Most High do a 
great work, which shall prepare the way and greatly 
facilitate the gathering of that people" 

At a General Conference of the Church held on April 
6, 1840, at Nauvoo, Illinois, Orson Hyde was one of the 
speakers. During the course of his address he made the 
very remarkable statement that "It had been prophecied 
some years ago that he had a great work to perform 
among the Jews; and that he had recently been moved 
upon by the Spirit of the Lord to visit that people, and 
gather up all the information he could respecting their 
movements, expectations, etc." 

The conference called Mr. Hyde to go upon this his 
mission to Jerusalem. Credentials were issued to him set- 
ting forth the specific work he was to perform in con- 
nection with the Jewish people and their re-establishment 
in the land of their fathers. The document runs thus: 
"The Jewish nations have been scattered abroad among 



And Their Fulfillment 143 

the Gentiles for a long period; and in our estimation, 
the time of the commencement of their return to the 
Holy Land has already arrived." 

His mission was to visit the cities of London, Amster- 
dam, Constantinople, and Jerusalem. He was to "con- 
verse with priests, rulers and elders of the Jews," etc. 
In the performance of this mission, Orson Hyde made his 
way across the Atlantic Ocean, spending some time in the 
several cities mentioned. He interviewed, or correspond- 
ed with, the leaders of Jewish societies in all of these 
places. In London he communicated with the Reverend 
Dr. Solomon Herschell, President Rabbi of the He- 
brew Society of England, to whom he related the cir- 
cumstances of his Divine call and the nature of the 
prophecy pronounced upon his head about nine years be- 
fore by a young man [Joseph Smith] with whom he had 
at that time but a short acquaintance. A young man, 
however, to whom God had made known his will con- 
cerning many things that were to come to pass in this 
day and age of the world. In Berlin, Mr. Hyde acquired 
some knowledge of the German language in order to the 
better carry on his work in the Orient and with the 
Jewish people wherever he might come in contact with 
them. 

He finally reached Jerusalem. Early in the morning 
of October 24, 1841, as soon as the gates of the city were 
opened, he went outside of the walls, crossed over the 
Brook Kedron and ascended the Mount of Olives. There 
he offered a prayer to God and dedicated the land for its 
rehabitation by the Children of Israel and the House of 
Judah. Here are a few of the petitions that went up to 
the throne of the God of Abraham from the heart of this 
man who was himself a descendant of Judah: 



144 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 



"0, Lord! Thy servant has been obedient to the 
heavenly vision which thou gavest him in his native 
land; under the shadow of thine outstretched arm, 
he has safely arrived in this place to dedicate and 
consecrate this land unto thee, for the gathering to- 
gether of Judah's scattered remnants, according to 
the prediction of the holy prophets — for the build- 
ing up of Jerusalem again after it had been trodden 
down by the Gentiles so long, and for rearing a 
temple in honor of thy name. . . . Remove the 
barrenness and sterility of this land, and let springs 
of living water break forth to water its thirsty soil. 
. . . Let the land become abundantly fruitful 
when possessed by its rightful heirs. . . . Let 
thy great kindness conquer and subdue the unbelief 
of thy people. Do thou take from them their stony 
heart, and give them a heart of flesh. ... In- 
cline them to gather in upon this land according to 
thy word. ... Do thou now also be pleased to 
inspire the hearts of kings and the powers of the 
earth to look with a friendly eye towards this place, 
with a desire to see thy righteous purposes executed 
in relation thereto. Let them know that it is thy 
good pleasure to restore the Kingdom to Israel — 
raise up Jerusalem as its capital, and constitute her 
people a distinct people and government. . . . 
Let that nation or that people who shall take an 
active part in behalf of Abraham's children, and in 
the raising up of Jerusalem, find favor in thy sight. 
Let not their enemies prevail against them, neither 
pestilence or famine overcome them, but let the 
glory of Israel overshadow them, and the power of 
the highest protect them; while that nation or king- 



And Their Fulfillment 145 

dom that will not serve thee in this glorious work 
must perish, according to thy word — 'Yea, those na- 
tions shall be utterly wasted.' " 

At the conclusion of this prayer Orson Hyde erected 
a monument of stones in commemoration of the discharge 
of his sacred mission. He finished his work in Jerusa- 
lem and then proceeded on his way back to continental 
Europe and England. While on his way he addressed a 
letter to Parley P. Pratt, then editing the Millennial Star, 
in Manchester, dated Trieste, January 1-18, 1842. This 
letter purports to be a report of his labors and expe- 
riences in the Holy Land. This communication, as well 
as others from him were published in the Millennial Star, 
the official journal of the European Mission. It ap- 
peared in volume II, pages 166-169. Numerous copies 
of this near-four-score-old volume are in existence to- 
day. The extract that follows was taken direct from the 
time-stained pages of which we produce a photograph 
for the readers' examination. 

This volume of the Star is extremely valuable for the 
reason that it establishes beyond all doubt and cavil 
the specific performance of the particular mission that 
the spirit of prophecy declared Orson Hyde should per- 
form, providing a devoted effort were made by him to 
perform the mission. This publication also possesses 
unusual interest and testamentary value in that it con- 
tains a prophecy made by Orson Hyde concerning a 
great historical event that has recently transpired and 
at the same time fixes with positive certainty the genu- 
ineness of the prophecy as well as its remote antiquity. 

Here is the prophecy: 

"It was by political power and influence that the 
Jewish nation was broken down, and her subjects 



146 



Prophecies of Joseph Smith 



THIS I^mSR-BAY SAINTS' « 

MILLENNIAL STAR 

EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY P. P. PRATT, 

r 47, OXFORD STREET, MANCHESTER, 

m MONTHLY NUMBERS, PRICE THREEPENCE. 



No. 11. 



MARCH, 1842. 



Ruins in Central America ............ 161 

Late Intelligence from Joseph Smith and 

tbe Mormons 166 

Highly Interesting from Jerusalem .... 166 

Letter from Glasgow ; . . . . 169' 



Editorial Remarks ., . . 17( V 

On -the Influence of Yalse Spirits. ..... 172 * ; 

Conference Notice 176 

Emigration 176 

Poetry ;..". 176 4 



RUINS IN CENTRAL AMERICA. Ms eyes. Representations of those were 'J 



CTT\fl7VT i 



INTERESTING FROM JERUSALEM. 



169 



jcal power and influence that the Jewish 
' nation was broken down, and her .sub- 
jects dispersed abroad; and Twill hero 
hazard the opinion, that by political 
power and influence tbey will be gathered 
and built up ; and further, that England 
is destined in the wisdom and economy 
of heaven to stretch forth -the arm' of 
political power j and advance in the front 
ranks' of thk glorious enterprise. The 
Lord once raised up a. Cyrus to resto/e 
the Jews, but that was not evidence that 
' be owned tbe religion of the Persians. 
This opinion I submit, however, to your 
superior wisdom to correct if you shall 
find it wrong. . 

"There is an increasing anxiety in 



towards Jerusalem as the tender and 
"affectionate mother looks upon the home 
where she left her lovely HtUc babe." 

"l^rSrFRc^olAbXJmv"" 

Glasgow, Feb. 10th, 1842. 
Beloved Brother Pratt, 

1 sit down to inform you that 
the work of the Lord'is still nu the ad- 
vance, although Satan and his servants 
are endeavouring to , stop its progress. 
We have had several discussions, in all 
of which the Saints eame off victorious, 
which set the Priests of Babel mad. 
There are some honest even amongst 
our enemies, that wish for truth, and 



Photograph of the remarkable prophecy of Orson Hyde con- 
cerning the re-gathering of the Jews in Palestine, and the part 
that England was destined to take in that enterprise, as published 
to the world in the Millennial Star, March, 1842, seventy-five years 
before the taking of Jerusalem by General Allenby, at the head 
of English troops, December 11, 1917. 



And Their Fulfillment 147 

dispersed abroad; and I will here hazard the opinion, 
that by political power and influence they will be 
gathered and built up; and further, that England is 
destined in the wisdom and economy of heaven to 
stretch forth the arm of political power and advance- 
in the front ranks of this glorious enterprise." 

Perhaps a hundred prophets have predicted the re- 
establishment of the Jews in the land of their fathers, 
but this prophecy stands out with singular conspicuous- 
ness in that it foretells, seventy-five years before the 
event occurs, the very nation that shall be instrumental 
in the accomplishment, by political power and influence, 
of the great enterprise. The taking of Jerusalem by the 
British forces is obviously the fulfillment of this proph- 
ecy. 

During the recent war, after a long and hazardous 
campaign, the city of Jerusalem was slowly and cau- 
tiously surrounded. Its capitulation was inevitable. Gen- 
eral Sir Edmund Allenby, with his troops took peace- 
able possession on December 10, 1917. 1 On the follow- 
ing day he passed through the gates of the ancient city 
and at once established martial law and assumed polit- 
ical control of the city. He cabled to his government 
the following report: 

"I entered the city officially at noon on December 
11th, with a few of my staff, the commanders of 
the French and Italian detachments, the heads of the 
political missions, and the military attaches of 
France, Italy and America." 



1 In a readable article on Orson Hyde's mission to Palestine 
published in the Relief Society Magazine, April, 1919, the in- 
teresting disclosure is made that a grand-nephew of Orson Hyde 
was with General Allenby when Jerusalem was taken. 



148 



Prophecies of Joseph Smith 




General Allenby at the Head of the British Troops Enter- 
ing Jerusalem, December 11th, 1917. 
"England is destined in the wisdom and economy of heaven to 
stretch forth the arm of political power, and advance in the front 
ranks of this glorious enter prise."— Orson Hyde, January, 1842. 
(See Mlilennial Star, Vol. 2, p. 168-9—1842.) 



And Their Fulfillment 149 

There was "no pageantry of arms; no display of pomp 
and circumstance of an army victorious in war; no 
thunderous salutes acclaimed the victory; no flags were 
hoisted; no enemy flag was hauled down; no soldiers 
shouted in triumph — just a short military procession 
took place in the Mount Zion quarter, two hundred yards 
from the walls." 

In the days of the destruction of Jerusalem not a 
stone was to be left upon another, but in the days of 
her redemption from Turkish or Gentile rule there was 
not a stone disturbed or "an inch of ground destroyed." 
The whole wonderful and interesting performance was 
as though it were a solemn religious ceremony — so be- 
fitting the place held sacred as the birth-place of three 
of the world's great religions. 

That the populace, a veritable polyglot, might know 
how great was the liberty thus peaceably come to them 
the General issued the following proclamation, and had 
it posted in conspicuous places in the Arabic, Hebrew, 
English, French, Italian, Greek and Russian tongues: 

"proclamation. 

"To the inhabitants of Jerusalem the blessed and 
the people dwelling in its vicinity: 

"The defeat inflicted upon the Turks by the troops 
under my command has resulted in the occupation 
of your city by my forces. I, therefore, here now 
proclaim it to be under martial law, under which 
form of administration it will remain so long as 
military considerations make necessary. However, 
lest any of you be alarmed by reason of your expe- 
rience at the hands of the enemy who has retired, I 
hereby inform you that it is my desire that every per- 



150 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

son should pursue his lawful business without fear 
of interruption. 

"Furthermore since your city is regarded with 
affection by the adherents of three of the great relig- 
ions of mankind and its soil had been consecrated 
by the prayers and pilgrimages of multitudes of de- 
vout people of these three religions for many cen- 
turies, therefore, do I make it known to you that 
every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, 
traditional site, endowment, pious bequest, or cus- 
tomary place of prayer of whatsoever form of the 
three religions will be maintained and protected 
according to the customs of those to whose faith 
they are sacred." 

The dismemberment of the Turkish Empire began with 
the preparation of the peace treaty. Mandatories were 
to be established thereby relieving the Ottoman of much 
of his responsibility in administering the affairs of 
European territory. Syria was assigned to France; 
Armenia was made an independent republic; and Mesopo- 
tamia and Palestine were placed under British manda- 
tory. 

Current History says of this great procedure : 

"The moving factor in bringing about Turkey's 
vast territorial loss was Great Britain, which, defacto 
if not de jure, has become the mandatory. Although 
France owns from sixty to sixty-five per cent of the 
Ottoman bonds, an Englishman, Sir Adam Block, is 
president of the Debt Association. Although French, 
Italian and Greek troops may independetly protect 
the portions of the empire to be administered bv 
their respective governments, the British general will 
enforce the terms of Constantinople, and even the 



And Their Fulfillment 151 

sanctity of the harems will no longer be observed 
by his agents in search of forced alien converts to 
Islam." 

The attitude of the British government with respect 
to the future of Palestine was clearly defined in the decla- 
ration of Mr. Balfour, on November 2, 1917. This 
declaration was approved by France, Italy and President 
Wilson. The letter containing the declaration was ad- 
dressed to the head of the British Zionist organization. 
It read: 

"His Majesty's Government view with favor the 
establishment in Palestine of a national home for 
the Jewish people and will use their best endeavors 
to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being 
clearly understood that nothing shall be done which 
may prejudice the civil and religious rights of ex- 
isting non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the 
rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any 
other country." 

The adoption of the Zionist movement as a national 
policy with respect to Palestine by Great Britain has 
given the greatest impetus to that cause. Jews all the 
world around have turned their eyes toward the city of 
David. Vast sums of money are being raised for the 
purpose of rebuilding Jerusalem. The ancient law of 
tithes is being invoked to that appropriate end. Already 
a great university is under construction in the Holy City 
and eminent professors from Berlin and other great 
cities are registered for service there. The British Gov- 
ernment has placed Sir Herbert Samuel as British High 
Commissioner in Palestine and his administration of af- 
fairs is already under way in Jerusalem. This Jew is 



152 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

backed by greater power and authority than was ever 
enjoyed by Solomon in all his regal glory. 

When Orson Hyde dedicated Palestine for the re-gath- 
ering of the children of Abraham there were not more 
than seven thousand Hebrews in the Sacred City. The 
Jewish population, in spite of a most intolerant hostility 
to the race has been steadily on the increase from that 
time until today its Jewish population is approximately 
fifty thousand. With wealth and political backing from 
Great Britain, and other powerful nations furthering the 
Zionist movement, shall we not soon see them "come like 
clouds and like doves to their windows," as Orson Hyde 
prayed they might, in 1841? One of the leading officers 
of the Zionist movement promises the establishment of 
fifty thousand immigrant Jews in Palestine within the 
year. In the transpiring of these very recent events 
we perceive the literal fulfillment of prophecies that 
were uttered four score years or more ago. These 
prophecies had all but become obscured by the many 
years that have lapsed and the general rush of world 
events that had been going on. But when the time of 
the Lord arrived his word was fulfilled, and we who read 
these pointed prophecies, dug up from the past, become 
witnesses of God's power. They are testimonies to us. 

(See Appendix for the prayer of Orson Hyde on the 
Mount of Olives.) 



And Their Fulfillment 153 



The Date of Birth and Crucifixion 
of the Lord 

Little accurate information is obtainable from Bibli- 
cal scholars concerning the actual date of the birth of 
the Savior. Many traditions on the question have been 
handed down to us from the earlier writers, both pro- 
fane and sacred. Dean Farrar, in his Life of Christ, 
under an excursus in the Appendix, frankly admits the 
hopelessness of the problem in these words: "All at- 
tempts to discover the month and day of the nativity are 
useless. No data whatever exist to enable us to deter- 
mine them with even approximate accuracy." 

Edersheim in his work, under an appendix (vii) says 
regarding the date of birth, etc.: "At the outset it must 
be admitted, that absolute certainy is impossible as to 
the exact date of Christ's Nativity — the precise year 
even, and still more the month and the day." 

The Encyclopedia Brittanica, in an article written by 
Frederic W. Farrar, above quoted, says: 

"As to the day and month of the nativity it is 
certain that they can never be recovered; they were 
absolutely unknown to the early fathers, and there is 
scarcely one month in the year which has not been 
fixed upon as probable by modern critics. The date 
now observed — December 25th — cannot be traced 
further back than the middle of the 4th century, but 
was adopted by St. Jerome, St. Augustine, Orosius, 
and Sulpicius Severus, and in the east by St. Chrysos- 
tom and St. Gregory of Nyssa." 



154 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

Dr. Smith in his dictionary reviews the best known 
calculations, and toward the end of his article says: 

"Wieseler followed a line of calculation and 
placed the birth at January 10th. Greswell, how- 
ever, from the same starting point, arrives at the 
date of April 5th." 

He adds: 

"And when two writers so laborious can thus dif- 
fer in their conclusion! ;', we must rather suspect the 
soundness of their method than the accuracy of the 
use of it." 

And again the same author says: 

"Similar differences will be found amongst emin- 
ent writers in every part of the chronology of the 
gospels. For example, the birth of our Lord is 
placed in B. C. 1 by Pearson and Hug; B. C. 2 by 
Scaliger; B. C. 3 by Baronius; Calvisius, Suskind, 
and Paulus; B. C. 4 by Lamy, Bengel, Anger, Wiese- 
ler, and Greswell; B. C. 5 by Usher and Patavius; 

B. C. 7 by Ideler and Sanclemente. And whilst the 
calculations given above seem sufficient to determine 
us, Lamy, Usher, Patavius, Bengel, Wieseler, and 
Greswell to the close of B. C. 5 or early part of B. 

C. 4, let it never be forgotten that there is a dis- 
tinction between these researches, which the Holy 
Spirit has left obscure and doubtful and the 'weight- 
ier matters' of the Gospel, the things which directly 
pertain to man's salvation." 

Edersheim in his "Life and Times of Jesus the Mes- 
siah" (Oxford 1886) justifies the traditional Christmas 
observation of the nativity. He says: 



And Their Fulfillment 155 

"It was, then, on that 'wintry night' of the 25th of 
December, that shepherds watched the flocks des- 
tined for sacrificial services, in the very place con- 
secrated by tradition as that where the Messiah was 
to be first revealed." 

Continuing in a foot note: 

"There is no adequate reason for questioning the 
accuracy of this date. The objections generally made 
rest on grounds which seem to me historically un- 
tenable. The subject has been fully discussed in an 
article by Cassel in Hertzog's Real. Encyc. xvii, pp. 
588-594. But a curious piece of evidence comes from 
a Jewish scource. In the addition to the Megillath 
Taanith, the 9th Tebbeth [a Jewish calendar month] 
is marked as a fast day, and it is added, that the rea- 
son for this is not stated. Now, Jewish chronologists 
have fixed on that day as that of Christ's birth, and 
it is remarkable that, between the years 500 and 816 
A. D. the 25th of December fell no less than 12 
times on the 9th Tebbeth. If the 9th Tebbeth, or 
25th December, was regarded as the birthday of 
Christ, we can understand the concealment about it." 

Joseph Smith, in the History of the Church, as if per- 
fectly oblivious to all these well established traditions 
and world-wide observances, makes this entry: 

"In this manner did the Lord continue to give us 
instructions from time to time, concerning the duties 
which now devolved upon us; and among many oth- 
er things of the kind, we obtained of him the follow- 
ing, by the spirit of prophecy and revelation; which 
not only gave us much information, but also pointed 
out to us the precise day upon which, according to his 



156 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

will and commandment, we should proceed to or- 
ganize his Church once more here upon the earth. 

"The rise of the Church of Christ in these last 
days, being one thousand eight hundred and thirty 
years since the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus 
Christ in the flesh, it being regularly organized and 
established agreeable to the laws of our country, by 
the will and and commandment of God, in the fourth 
month, and on the sixth day of the month which is 
called April." (Doc. and Cov., Sec. 20.) 

On the 6th day of April, 1833, the following appears 
in the Church History, which was kept by, or under, the 
direction of Joseph Smith: 

"About eighty officials, together with some un- 
official members of the Church, met for instruction 
and the service of God, at the Ferry on the Big Blue 
River, near the western limits of Jackson county, 
which is the boundary line of the state of Missouri 
and also of the United States. It was an early 
spring and the leaves and blossoms enlivened and 
gratified the soul of man like a glimpse of paradise. 
The day was spent in a very agreeable manner, in 
giving and receiving knowledge which appertained 
to this last kingdom — it being just 1800 years since 
the Savior laid down his life that men might have 
everlasting life. . . . This was the first attempt 
made by the Church to celebrate the anniversary of 
her birthday." (History of Church, Vol. I, p. 336.) 

We do not know that the Church is technically com- 
mitted to the date above indicated as that of the date of 
the crucifixion. We know of no other passage in our 
standard works that confirms this idea, nor do we hold 



And Their Fulfillment 157 

any tradition on the subject that supports the suggestion. 
So far as the authoritative declarations of the Church 
are concerned there is, perhaps, nothing that approaches 
the subject as near as the above extract. This statement 
cannot be given the same weight and significance that 
attaches to the one taken from the revelation directing 
that the Church be organized on the anniversary of the 
Lord's birth, viz: April 6, (1830). While we make 
these precautionary observations, on the other hand, we 
know of no reason why the use of the w T ord "just" should 
be deprived of the significance with which the prophet 
might possibly have expressly wished to invest it. At 
any rate, a little research on the technical subject is re- 
paid by a disclosure of relevant matter that would al- 
most conclusively vindicate the inspiration of the proph- 
et. We submit, later, some of these illuminating find- 
ings for their value to the studiously inclined. 

The Jewish Encyclopedia, in giving a historical treat- 
ise on Jesus of Nazareth, opens the article thus: 
''Founder of Christianity; born at Nazareth about 2 B. 
C. Executed at Jerusalem 14th of Nisan." 

In another place, under the heading, "Date of Jesus' 
Crucifixion," the Encyclopedia says: 

"The greatest difficulty from the point of view of 
the Jewish penal procedure is presented by the day 
and time of the execution. According to the Gospels 
Jesus died on Friday, the eve of the Sabbath. Yet 
on that day, in view of the approach of the Sabbath 
(or holiday) executions lasting until late in the after- 
noon were almost impossible. The Synoptics do not 
agree with John on the date of the month. Accord- 
ing to the latter he died on the 14th of Nisan, as 
though he were the Paschal lamb; but executions 



158 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

were certainly not regular on the eve of a Jewish 
holiday. According to the Synoptics, the date of the 
death was the 15th of Nisan [first day of the Pass- 
over], when again no execution could be held. This 
discrepancy has given rise to various attempts at 
rectification. That by Chwolson is the most ingeni- 
ous, assuming that Jesus died on the 14th, and ac- 
counting for the error in Matthew by a mistransla- 
tion from the original in the Hebrew Matt. 17 [here 
follow Hebrew characters in confirmation of the 
claim]. But even so, the whole artifical construc- 
tion of the law regarding the Passover when the 
15th of Nisan was on Saturday, attempted by Chwol- 
son, would not remove the difficulty of an execu- 
tion occurring on Friday eve of the Sabbath and eve 
of holiday; and the body could not have been re- 
moved as late as the ninth hour (3 p. m.). Bodies 
of delinquents were not buried in private graves, 
while that of Jesus was buried in a sepulchre be- 
longing to Joseph of Arimathea. Besides this, penal 
jurisdiction had been taken from the Sanhedrin i±i 
capitol cases 'for forty years before the fall of the 
Temple.' " 

The Jewish Encyclopedia (a monumental work pub- 
lished in America, 1901, the compilation of which is 
said to be the greatest achievement in the history of 
that race since the dispersion and the fall of Jerusalem) 
says that the Jewish month Nisan "coincides, approxi- 
mately, with the month of April. It is a sacred month," 
etc. This correspondence of the two months would not 
be exact for the reason that the Jewish calendar pro- 
vided for months of equal length, from moon to moon 
and otherwise disposed of the surplus days left over at 



And Their Fulfillment 159 

the passing of the twelve months. Hence the word "ap- 
proximately." Dr. William Smith in his celebrated 
Dictionary of the Bible translates the Jewish months 
and days into what would be the corresponding dates 
in our calendar. In treating the Life of Jesus, Dr. 
Smith follows the events towards the close, day by day, 
giving dates in both calendars thus: "Thursday, the 14th 
of Nisan (April 6th)." Accordingly the following table 
would be of Dr. Smith's calculations: 

Wednesday 13th Nisan correpsonding to April 5th 
Thursday 14th Nisan corresponding to April 6th 
Friday 15th Nisan corresponding to April 7th 

Saturday 16th Nisan corresponding to April 8th 

Under the heading of the Passover this eminent author- 
ity in treating on the Last Supper of the Lord makes this 
observation (Vol. 3, Amer. Ed. p. 2348) : 

"If it be granted that the supper was eaten on the 
evening of the 14th of Nisan, the apprenhension, 
trial and crucifixion of our Lord must have occurred 
on Friday the 15th, the day of convocation, which 
was the first of the seven days of the Passover week. 
The weekly Sabbath on which he lay in the tomb 
was the 16th, and the Sunday of the resurrection was 
the 17th." 

As the discussion of the subject proceeds in the article 
this statement occurs: 

"If we admit, in accordance with the first view of 
these passages, that the Last Supper was on the 13th 
of Nisan our Lord must have been crucified on the 
14th, the day on which the paschal lamb was slain 
and eaten." 



160 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

By reference to the above table it will be seen that this 
conclusion, if accepted, would place the date of the 
crucifixion on April 6th. Passing to a more technical 
consideration of the controversy, Dr. Smith perfects an 
alignment of the scholars into two groups. One of these 
contending for the 13th of Nisan as the date of the Last 
Supper and consequently for the April 6th as the date 
of the crucifixion, as that tragic event occurred on the 
day following the day of the Supper. Later on this 
paragraph appears: 

"The current of opinion in modern times has set 
in favor of taking the more obvious interpretation 
of the passage in St. John, that the Supper was eaten 
on the 13th, and that our Lord was crucified on the 
14th." 

This would be April 6th, as previously pointed out. 
Belonging to this group of scholars he presents the fol- 
lowing array of recognized authorities: Lucke, Ideler, 
Tittman, Bleck, De Wette, Neander, Tischendorf, Winer, 
Meyer, Bruckner, Ewald, Holtzmann, Godet, Caspari, 
Baur, Hilgenfeld, Scholten, Ebrard (formerly), Alford, 
Ellicott; of earlier critics, Erasmus, Grotius, Suicer, 
Carpzof. 

Toward the end of the article this interesting allusion 
is made : 

"There is a strange story preserved in the Gemara 
(Sanhedrin, vi: 2, i. e., the Jewish Talmud) that our 
Lord having vainly endeavored during forty days 
to find an advocate, was sentenced, and on the 14th 
of Nisan, stoned and afterwards hanged." 

In a footnote this observation is made: 

"Other Rabbinical authorities countenance the 



And Their Fulfillment 161 

statement that Christ was executed on the 14th of the 
month. See Jost. Judenth 1,404." 

To this imposing group of critics who stood for the 
date of April 6th as the date of the crucifixion, Dr. 
Smith adds the illustrious names of Clement of Alex- 
andria [b. 150, d. 220 A. D.] and Origen, [2 C] men 
who lived back in the first centuries of the Christian era, 
and to whom traditions must have been fresh and new. 
He says that Chrysostom [347-407 A. D.] expresses 
himself doubtfully between the two dates, and that St. 
Augustine [354-430 A. D.] was in favor of the 14th. 

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 8, says Jesus died 
on Fiiday the 15th of Nisan. This would make it the 
7th of April. 

The late Dean Farrar in his Life of Christ [1874], 
under the heading, "Was the Last Supper an Actual 
Passover?" discusses at some length the actual date of 
the crucifixion. A few excerpts from this excursus will 
throw added light upon the subject under consideration. 
They follow: 

"It is certain, and it is all but universally ac- 
knowledged, being expressly stated by all the 
Evangelists, that our Lord was crucified on Friday 
and rose on Sunday, lying during the hours of the 
Jewish Sabbath in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. 
It is therefore certain that he ate his Last Supper, 
and instituted the Eucharist, on the evening of 
Thursday; but was this Last Supper the actual 
Paschal Feast, or an anticipation of it? Was it 
eaten on Nisan 13, or Nisan 14, i. e. in the year of 
the crucifixion did the first day of the Passover be- 
gin on the evening of a Thursday or on the evening 
of a Friday? . . . 

12 



162 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

"Now it must be admitted that the Synoptists are 
unanimous in the use of expressions which admit of 
no natural explanation except in the supposition that 
the Passover did begin on the evening of Thursday, 
and therefore Thursday was Nisan 14, [this would 
be April 6th according to Dr. Smith's table. — N. L. 
M.] and that the Last Supper was in reality the or- 
dinary Paschal Feast." 

The four pages of careful treatment of the subject 
concludes with this paragraph: 

"To sum up, then, it seems to me, from careful and 
repeated study of much that has been written on this 
subject by many of the best and most thoughtful 
writers, that Jesus ate his Last Supper with the dis- 
ciples on the evening of Thursday, Nisan 13 i. e. at 
the time when, according to Jewish reckoning, the 
14th of Nisan began: [this was, consequently, the 
day of the crucifixion, or, acording to Dr. Smith, 
as above observed, April 6th.] That this supper was 
not, and was not intended to be the actual Paschal 
meal, which neither was nor could be legally eaten 
till the following evening; but by a perfectly natural 
identification, and one which would have been re- 
garded as unimportant, the Last Supper, which was a 
quasi-Passover, a new and Christian Passover, and 
one in which, as in its antitype, memories of joy 
and sorrow were strangely blended, got to be, identi- 
fied, even in the memory of the Synoptists, with the 
Jewish Passover, and that St. John, silently but de- 
liberately, corrected this erroneous impression, 
which, even in his time, had come to be generally 
prevalent." 
It is not at all likely that Joseph Smith had access 



And Their Fulfillment 163 

to these authorities on bibliology. An analysis of the 
eighty-two authorities mentioned by Farrar as his refer- 
ences and authority reveals the interesting fact that 
sixty-one or approximately seventy-five per cent, were 
published between the years 1840 and 1870. Only 12 
were in print prior to 1830, and nearly all of these 
were in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, German, or some other 
foreign tongue. 

Smith's Dictionary to the Bible, a standard work, was 
published in London, 1860. The list of contributors 
exceed fifty in number. They were either professors or 
clergymen, of the highest rank in both classes. In his 
preface reference is made to but two works to which 
frequent recurrence was had in the compilation of the 
work. These are: u Dr. Robinson's Biblical Researches," 
London, 1856, and Professor Stanley's "Sinai and Pal- 
estine," London, 1857. This observation also appears in 
the preface: 

"Within the last few years, Biblical studies have 
received a fresh impulse; and the researches of mod- 
ern scholars, as well as the discoveries of modern 
travelers, have thrown new and unexpected light up- 
on the history and geography of the East. . . . 

"No other dictionary has yet attempted to give a 
complete list of the proper names of the Old and 
New Testament, to say nothing of the Apocrapha." 

So that Joseph Smith, in all probability did not have 
access to anything beyond the most meagre biblical com- 
mentaries, up to the time at which he made these im- 
portant declarations concerning the birth and crucifixion 
of the Lord. 

The more modern school of bibliology has come to 
some rather striking conclusions in regard to the date 



164 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

of the crucifixion. These, incidentally, confirm all that 
Joseph Smith said, or even suggested, with regard to the 
date of the death of the Lord. We deem these contribu- 
tions to the subject of such value that we introduce them 
verbatim. They were taken from the Literary Digest 
of May 16, 1903, Vol. 26, No. 20. (Translated spe- 
cially for that journal.) 

"the date of Christ's crucifixion. 

"The day of the month in which Jesus was cru- 
cified has for decades been a vexed problem in New 
Testament research, especially in view of the fact 
that the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of St. John 
seem not to agree on this point. An entirely new 
effort to solve this matter has been made by Pro- 
fessor Hans Archelis, of the University of Konigs- 
berg, and the result is published in the Nachrichten 
No. 5 of the Gottengen Academy of Sciences. The 
novelty of the effort lies in this, that Professor 
Achelis tries to figure out the date astronomically, 
and reaches the conclusion that it was Friday, April 
6th, A. D. 30. His process is as follows: Jesus was 
crucified on a Friday according to Matt. 27:62; 28:1; 
Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54; John 19:31. According 
to John, he was crucified on the 14th of Nisan; ac- 
cording to the other evangelists, on the 15th of 
Nisan. The year is not mentioned. 

"Pilate was governor between 26 and 36, and at 
Easter of the latter year had been deposed. In the 
year 26, the 14th of Nisan fell on Saturday; in the 
year 27, on Wednesday; in 28, on Monday; in 29, 
on Sunday; in 30, on Friday, April 6th; in 31, Tues- 
day; in 32, on Monday; in 33, on Friday; April 3rd; 
in 34, on Tuesday; in 35, on Monday. 



And Their Fulfillment 165 

"During all these years the 15th never fell on Fri- 
day. From these facts two conclusions can be drawn : 
one, that John and not the Synoptics has the right 
date, and Jesus could not have been crucified on the 
15th of Nisan; second, that we must conclude be- 
tween April 6th, A. D. 30, and April 3rd, A. D. 33. 

"To decide between these two, we must appeal to 
other data taken from Luke and John. 

"Christ began his public ministry, according to 
Luke, in immediate connection with the activity of 
John the Baptist, and the latter began (1) in the 
fifteenth year of Tiberius; (2) at the time when 
Pontius Pilate was ruler in Judea; (3) when Herod 
was tetrarch in Galilee; (4) when Herod's brother 
Philip was tetrarch in Itureah, etc. (5) when Lysan- 
ias was tetrarch in Abelene; and (6) when Annas 
and Caiaphas were high priests. These data fix the 
time between August 19th A. D., 28 and Aug. 18 A. 
D., 29. 

"According to John 2:20, the Jews said to Christ, 
when he entered upon his ministry, that the temple 
had been in process of erection 46 years. This brings 
us to the year 27-28. Since Christ, according to Luke, 
was engaged in his ministry for one year — accord- 
ing to John, two or three years — both writers have 
taken the year 30 as the year of his death. Accord- 
ingly we can with good reason regard Friday, April 
6th A. D. 30, as the date of the crucifixion. 

This computation has, however, not been satisfac- 
tory to all, and a critic in the Christliche Welt (No. 
14) tries to show that it is unreliable in method, al- 
though correct in result. He says: 

"The Jewish month is not a fixed date like the Ro- 
man month. It went from new moon to new moon; 



166 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

or, better, from the time when the new moon became 
visible to the next time this occurred. It is accord- 
ingly only 27 or 28 days long and twelve months is 
accordingly not a solar year, but only 354 days. Ac- 
cordingly, at least, once every three years, the Jews 
had to add an intercalary month. The Jewish year 
began in the spring, with the month of Nisan. If 
the month begins with the new moon, then the full 
moon falls on the 14th-15th. The month of Nisan 
as the first spring month, was so arranged that its 
full moon fell after the vernal equinox. In this way 
the beginning of the years were determined with rea- 
sonable certainty. But there are two ways of determin- 
ing the 1st Nisan, and we no longer know which of 
these ways the Jewish almanac-makers observed. Did 
they adopt the most reliable way, namely, of count- 
ing backward from the full moon to the first? This 
is probably the case; but, if so, then they were at 
times compelled, as is seen by a glance at our own 
calendar, to begin the first of Nisan before the new 
moon had really become visible. But if they fol- 
lowed the more uncertain way, namely, not to de- 
clare the first of Nisan until they had really seen 
the new moon, then the dates of the month could also 
have been changed. Much of this calculation there- 
fore, is uncertain, since in the case of cloudy weather 
the new moon would be seen later than in clear. 
Nevertheless a careful comparison of these calcula- 
tions with the two chronological data concerning the 
beginning of Christ 9 s ministry leads to the conclusion 
that Chris fs death occurred on Friday, April 6th, A. 
D. 30." 

Our judgment warns us against an attempt at a too ac- 
curate determination of these technical questions. The 



And Their Fulfillment 167 

deviations in calendars, the lapse of near twenty cen- 
turies, and the failure of ancient historians in the mat- 
ter of preserving for us the actual dates of these two 
most important events lead us to the view that nothing 
short of a divine revelation could give dependable in- 
formation on the subject. The Latter-day Saints have 
not been without this source of information. They not 
only have the word of God with respect to the date 
of the birth of the Lord, but they have received through 
revelation a translation of an ancient American record 
of the events connected with the birth and crucifixion 
of the Savior. This record is known as the Book of 
Mormon, and was cotemporaneous with the life of the 
Savior on earth. This Book of Mormon chronolgy af- 
fords interesting opportunity for comparison with 
Oriental chronology. In its simple record of events it 
puts itself on record in such a way as to subject its 
narratives and chronological events to a merciless ex- 
posure in the event of errors or falsities. Herein are 
some interesting facts which go far to prove the trust- 
worthiness of the record and the innocence and divine 
inspiration of its translator, Joseph Smith. Inasmuch 
as the evidence we have to submit deals with the two 
dates in the same articles we have treated them together 
for the sake of convenience. 

We here introduce an editorial written by Orson Pratt 
for the Millennial Star and published in that periodical 
in 1866. (See Vol. 28, pp. 808-11.) 

"TRUE CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR'S DAY. 

"Christmas, the 25th of December, will open upon 
us, on Tuesday next. This is a great day among 
Christian nations. But what peculiar influence has 



168 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

been imparted to this day that it should occupy so 
conspicuous a prominence, above other days? Was 
man created on Christmas? Did Noah enter the 
ark on Christmas? Or what great event has trans- 
pired to make Christmas so memorable? Listen, 
and I will inform you. In the sixth century of our 
era, there lived a Romish Monk, by the name of 
Dionysius Exiguus; he imagined that Christ was 
born on the 25th of December. This conjecture, 
without any substantial proof, was received by the 
Romish Church, and handed down, like many other 
traditions, to the present day. Learned chronolo- 
gists are now fully convinced, that this monk con- 
ceived the idea, and palmed the fabrication upon 
the world, entirely unsupported by evidence. . . 

"Chronologists have no certain date on which to 
ground a calculation, fixing the birthday of our Re- 
deemer. Wieseler, from approximative data, sup- 
poses it to have been about the 10th of January. 
Greswell, from similar data, believes it to have been 
the 5th of April. (See Smith's Die, Vol. 1, p. 1074.) 

"The day of the crucifixion is not so uncertain. 
Some chronologists assert that it transpired in 
March; (See Arago's Astronomy, Vol. II, p. 722) 
but the great majority maintain that it took place on 
the day of the Passover, as described by St. John 
the Evangelist, which is said to have occurred on 
Friday, the 6th of April, corresponding to the 14th 
of the old Jewish month Abib, now called Nisan. 
(Smith's Diet., Vol. 2, p. 719.) 

"The year of the Christian era is also a matter of 
dispute among chronologists. The Romisk monk, 
Dionysius, in the sixth century after Christ, was the 
first who proposed to date events and years from 



And Their Fulfillment 169 

the birth of Christ; hence, he and many of his co- 
temporaries conjectured, from insufficient data, that 
532 years had elapsed from his birth; but the sup- 
position, like that of his assumed Christmas proved, 
in after centuries, to be incorrect, and that the birth 
of the Savior, was several years earlier, than he had 
erroneously assigned. But an alteration in the era 
could not well be accomplished, without producing 
an incalculable amount of confusion, among dated 
documents which had been accumulating for centur- 
ies, before the error of Dionysius was clearly de- 
tected therefore, the epithet 'Vulgar' was attached 
to our present era, to show that it is not reliable. 
It is to be regretted that the term incorrect era was 
not chosen, instead of 'vulgar era,' for the unedu- 
cated persons would have, at once, known the real 
meaning of the adjective used; but as it is, there 
are but comparatively few who understand that the 
year, for instance, A. D. 1866, is an erroneous date, 
several years less than the true era. 

"To show the discrepancies among chronoligists, 
we will give several examples, in relation of the 
year of the birth of Christ. 



"Birth of 


Christ. 


Chronolo gists. 


B. C. 1 yr. 




Pearson and Hug. 


B. C. 2 yr. 




Scaliger. 


B. C. 3 yr. 




Baronius, Calvisius, Suskind 
& Paulus. 


B. C. 5 yr. 




Lamy, Bengel, Anger, Wiese- 
ler, and Greswell. 


B. C. 7 yr. 




Ideler and Sanclemente. 



"If Christ was born 3 years earlier than the vul- 
gar era of Dionysius, as calculated by Baronius, Cal- 



170 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

visius, Suskind, and Paulus, then our present year, 
A. D. 1866, should in reality be A. D. 1869. There 
is certainly much substantial evidence to prove that 
the vulgar era, now in common use, is 3 years too 
little. 

The exact age of Christ, at the time of the Cruci- 
fixion, is furnished us in the Book of Mormon. The 
Nephite prophets had foretold that the night preced- 
ing the day on which Jesus should be born should 
be without any darkness. Accordingly, when 
this great sign was given, the following day, 
which was the birthday of Christ, was chosen as 
the first day, of the first month, of the first year 
of their civil era. But the precise hour of the day on 
which Jesus was born is not given; but it is certain 
from the Nephite record, that he was born after six 
o'clock in the morning, which was the "tomorrow" 
referred to in the Lord's declaration to Nephi, on 
page 433. And, therefore, his birth must have been 
after 1 o'clock in the afternoon, by the time at Jeru- 
salem, which is seven and one half hours later than 
the Nephite time, owing to the difference of the longi- 
tude of the two locations. (See Book of Mormon, pp. 
426, 432, 433, 434.)* It was also foretold by their 
prophets that, during the time of the crucifixion the 
whole of that continent should be terribly convulsed 
by earthquakes in which the rocks should be rent, 
many mountains be thrown down, many level places 
be broken up, many cities destroyed, etc., and immedi- 
ately three days and three nights of darkness should 
succeed. All this transpired, as it was predicted; 
and the exact date of the three hours of earthquakes 
was given, namely 'in the thirty and fourth year, in 
the first month, and in the fourth day of the month.' 



* Earlier editions. 



And Their Fulfillment 171 

Thus we perceive that 33 full years had passed away, 
and also 3 full days of the 34th year, and the fourth 
day had commenced when he expired upon the cross. 
(See p. 450). A Jewish day commenced at 6 o'clock 
in the morning. The crucifixion at Jerusalem com- 
menced at noon, and ended 3 hours after. With the 
Nephites just southeast of the Isthmus, this great 
event would be seven and one half hours earlier than 
at Jerusalem, owing to their being seven and one- 
half hours west longitude from that city. With the 
Nephites it would be half past seven in the morning, 
when the three hours of earthquakes subsided and 
when the darkness commenced, and therefore the 
death of Jesus must have been one hour and one half 
after the commencement of the fourth day of his 
34th year. The three days and three nights of dark- 
ness began at 7 1/2 o'clock in the morning, and must 
have ended at the same time in the morning. On the 
454th page, it reads, 'Thus did the three days pass 
away; and it was in the morning and the darkness 
dispersed from off the face of the land, and the earth 
did cease to tremble, and the rocks did cease to 
rend,' etc. 

"This proves that it was morning with the Nephites, 
when Jesus expired, and while it was 3 o'clock in the 
afternoon at Jerusalem. These dates, incidentally 
given in connection with the remarkable events of 
the Nephite history, prove, beyond all controversy 
the exact difference of time, owing to the difference 
of longitude of the two countries which should sub- 
sist and yet the inspired translator, Joseph Smith, 
died without even noticing this remarkable revelation 
of the difference of dates. For further particulars 
on this subject, our readers are referred to an arti- 



172 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

cle, entitled Divinity of the Book of Mormon, pub- 
lished in No. 24 of the present volume of the Star. 

"The civil year of the Nephites was undoubtedly of 
the same length as that of the Egyptians, namely, 365 
days. The Mexican Lamanites, when America was 
first discovered, counted 365 days to the year; and 
at the end of every 52 years, they added 13 inter- 
calary days. (See Lord Kingsborough's Mexican An- 
tiquities.') The Nephite calendar was probably regu- 
lated in the same way, being an improvement upon 
the Egyptian vague year, and maintaining the months 
and seasons in a permanent relation to each other, 
with but slight fluctuations. 

"As the intercalary days were not added until the 
end of 52 years, it is very certain that the first 33 
Nephite years after Christ were each precisely 365 
days, equal to 12,045 days to which add the 3 days 
of the 34th year, and we have 12,048 days, as the 
age of the Savior, when crucified. This is equal to 
1,721 weeks and 1 day, and also equal to 32 years 
and 360 days, acording to our present method of 
reckoning 365 1/4 days to a year. 

"We have already brought the testimony of chron- 
ologists to prove that he was crucified on Friday, 
the 6th of April. Deduct 32 of our years and 360 
days from the period of the crucifixion, and we have 
April 11th for the exact day of birth. Also, if we 
deduct 1,721 weeks and 1 day from the time of the 
crucifixion, we find that the 11th day of April or the 
first birthday of Christ, was on Friday. If he had 
lived to be 33 years of age, according to our reck- 
oning, that is, including the 8 intercalary days, (one 
day of which being added every 4 years) the anni- 
versary of his birthday would have fallen on Wed- 



And Their Fulfillment 173 

nesday; but he was crucified 5 days before this, or 
on the preceding Friday, which, as already observed 
was on the 6th of April. 

"From the above data, we have arrived at the cer- 
tain conclusions that our Lord and Savior, Jesus 
Christ, was born on Friday after mid-day, Jerusa- 
lem local time), April 11th, which is the true Christ- 
mas and New Year's Day. Therefore, the 11th day of 
April next will be our true Christmas and New Year's 
day for the true era of our Lord, 1870. 

"The set time that Christ, by New Revelation, or- 
ganized his Latter-day Kingdom, was on the 6th of 
April A. D., 1833, Dionysius' vulgar era, which is 
the same as the 6th of April, A. D. 1833, True Chris- 
tian Era. This stupendous event, so long predicted 
by the prophets took place precisely 1,800 years to 
the very day, from his crucifixion." 

An article written by Orson Pratt and published in the 
Millennial Star, June 16, 1866, on the hour of the cru- 
cifixion is of sufficient interest to warrant its reprint 
in connection with this discussion: 

"divinity of the book of mormon. 

"The divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon 
has been confirmed to this generation by a multi- 
plicity of evidences. It is not our intention, in this 
article, to examine this evidence in detail, but to 
merely set forth a kind of proof, which, I believe, 
has never been referred to, by any former writers. 
This evidence is derived from certain great events 
mentioned in the Book of Mormon, which happened 
on the Western Continent, at the precise time of the 
crucifixion of Christ, and during the three days in 



174 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

which his body slept in the tomb. The following 
is the description of these events: 

6 'And now it came to pass occording to our record, 
and we know our record to be true, for behold, it 
was a just man who did keep the record; for he truly 
did many miracles in the name of Jesus; and there 
was not any man who could do a miracle in the name 
of Jesus, save he were cleansed every whit from his 
iniquity. And now it came to pass, if there was no 
mistake made by this man in the reckoning of our 
time, the thirty and third year had passed away, and 
the people began to look with great earnestness for 
the sign which had been given by the Prophet Sam- 
uel, the Lamanite; yea, for the time that there should 
be darkness for the space of three days over the face 
of the land. And there began to be great doubtings 
and disputations among the people, notwithstanding 
so many signs had been given. 

" '2. And it came to pass in the thirty and fourth 
year, in the first month, in the fourth day of the 
month, there arose a great storm, such an one as 
never had been known in all the land; and there was 
also a great and terrible tempest, and there was terri- 
ble thunder, insomuch that it did shake the whole 
earth as if it was about to divide assunder ; and there 
were exceeding sharp lightings, such as never had 
been known in all the land. And the city of Zara- 
hemla did take fire; and the city of Moroni did sink 
in the depths of the sea, and the inhabitants thereof 
were drowned; and the earth was carried up upon 
the city of Moronihah, that in the place of the city 
thereof, there became a great mountain; and there 
was great and terrible destruction in the land south- 
ward. But, behold, there was more great and terri- 



And Their Fulfillment 175 

ble destruction in the land northward; for behold, 
the whole face of the land was changed, because of 
the tempest, and the whirlwinds, and the thunderings, 
and the lightnings, and the exceeding great quaking 
of the whole earth; and the highways were broken 
up, and the level roads were spoiled, and many 
smooth places became rough, and many great and 
notable cities were sunk, and many were burned, and 
many were shook till the buildings thereof had fallen 
to the earth, and the inhabitants were slain, and the 
places were left desolate; and there were some cities 
which remained; but the damage thereof was exceed- 
ing great, and there were many in them who were 
slain; and there were some who were carried away 
in the whirlwind, no man knoweth, save they know 
that they were carried away; and thus the face of 
the whole earth became deformed, because of the 
tempests, and the thunderings, and the lightnings, 
and the quaking of the earth. And behold, the rocks 
were rent in twain; they were broken up upon the 
face of the whole earth, insomuch that they were 
found in broken fragments, and in seams and in 
cracks, upon all the face of the land. 

' '3. And it came to pass when the thunderings, and 
the lightnings, and the storm, and the tempest, and 
the quakings of the earth did cease — for behold, 
they did last for about the space of three hours; 
and it was said by some that the time was greater; 
nevertheless, all these great and terrible things were 
done in about the space of three hours; and then 
behold, there was darkness upon the face of the land. 

x '4. And it came to pass that there was thick 
darkness upon all the face of the land, insomuch that 
the inhabitants thereof who had not fallen could feel 



176 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

the vapor of darkness; and there could be no light, 
because of the darkness, neither candles, neither 
torches; neither could there be fire kindled with their 
fine and exceeding dry wood, so that there could 
not be any light at all; and there was not any light 
seen, neither fire, nor glimmer, neither the sun, nor 
the moon, nor the stars, for so great were the mists of 
darkness which were upon the face of the land. 

' '5. And it came to pass that it did last for the 
space of three days, that there was no light seen, 
and there was great mourning and howling, and 
weeping among all the people continually; yea, great 
were the groanings of the people, because of the 
darkness and the great destruction which had come 
upon them." 

"Nephi in the former part of this book informs us 
that the night before Jesus was born was as light as 
mid-day; this being a sign given to the ancient Is- 
realites of America, that they might know the pre- 
cise time of his birth. Nephi also informs us, that 
they commenced reckoning their time from this great 
event. Therefore, according to the above extract, 
Jesus must have been thirty-three years and four 
days old when he was crucified. It appears that 
thick darkness did not come over the land, during the 
three hours that Jesus was on the cross, but followed 
immediately afterwards, and lasted three days. In the 
eleventh paragraph, in reference to the three days 
of darknss, Nephi says, 'thus did the three days pass 
away, and it was in the morning, and the darkness 
dispersed from off the face of the land, and the earth 
did cease to tremble, and the rocks did cease to rend,' 
etc. From this short extract we have a clue to the 
time of the day when the darkness commenced; for 



And Their Fulfillment 177 

as it ended in the morning, it must also have begun 
in the morning; and therefore the three hours of the 
crucifixion, which preceded the darkness must also 
have ended in the morning; that is, it was morning 
in that particular part of America where Nephi was 
writing. And we have the strongest reasons for be- 
lieving that he at that time, resided in the north- 
western portions of South America, near a temple 
which they had built in the land Bountiful, which 
the record informs us was not far south of the nar- 
row neck of land, connecting the land south with the 
land north; but which we, in these days, call the 
Isthmus of Darien [now Panama]. Nephi, the his- 
torian, and prophet of God, was present with the mul- 
titude who had gathered around this temple, at the 
time that Jesus descended from heaven among them, 
which was only a few months [days — N. L. M.] 
after the crucifixion; hence, there is the strongest 
probability that he dwelt on that part of the conti- 
nent when he wrote. 

"The four evangelists, in the New Testament, have 
plainly told us, what time of day it was in Jerusalem, 
during which the Savior* was on the cross; they all 
agree it was 'from the sixth to the ninth hour.' Their 
time was kept according to Jewish reckoning, the sixth 
hour with them, is the same as mid-day or noon; 
and the ninth hour was the third hour after noon 
which corresponds to three o'clock in the afternoon, 
according to English time. This was the time of day 
at Jerusalem when Christ was taken down from the 
cross. But the Book of Mormon states, as we have 
already quoted, that on the western continent 'it was 
in the morning.' To one unlearned, these statements 
will appear contradictory; but every well informed 

13 



178 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

person can see, at once, that the difference of longi- 
tude would produce a difference of time. 

"The northwestern part of South America is about 
one hundred and twelve degrees west of Jerusalem, 
which is equivalent to about seven and one half hours 
of time. This subtracted from the time at Jerusa- 
lem, will show that the crucifixion ended by Ameri- 
can time, in the morning, between one and two hours 
after sunrise; or according to our reckoning, about 
7 hours 30 minutes in the morning. 

"As the Prophet Joseph Smith never referred to 
this, it is evident that the difference of time alluded 
to resulting from the difference of longitude, never 
entered his mind; and that he, by the inspiration of 
the Holy Ghost, translated the item 'and it was morn- 
ing' without fully comprehending, why it should be 
in the morning rather than in the afternoon, accord- 
ing to the New Testament. Indeed, it is quite evi- 
dent that this young man, unlearned as he was, had 
never been instructed in regard to longitude, and the 
effect it has on time, and was, therefore, quite in- 
capable of designedly introducing the correct Ameri- 
can time for the sake of deception. When this im- 
portant truth is pointed out and clearly explained, 
it is easy enough for all people, whether enemies or 
friends, to perceive; but before attention was called 
to the matter, who thought of it? If it was a matter 
that the learned when reading the Book of Mormon 
did not, for more than a quarter of a century, dis- 
cover, how then can it, for one moment, be supposed 
that an unlearned youth could think of a fact, ap- 
parently so foreign, and only incidentally mentioned 
with other subjects, and for the sake of deception 
designedly incorporate it in the volume? No candid 



And Their Fulfillment 179 

person could come to any such absurd conclusion. 
There never was a revelation given to man, sub- 
stantiated with a greater amount of evidence, than 
what accompanies the Book of Mormon. Evidences 
both external and internal, are continually accumu- 
lating, and have already become innumerable. These 
evidences will continue to increase, until the Lord, 
himself, shall be revealed in all the fulness of his 
glory and power; this will be a revelation which the 
wicked cannot abide, but must perish as the dry stub- 
ble, before the devouring flame." 



180 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 



Two Expulsions from Jackson County, 
Missouri 1 

By Junius F. Wells. 

It was in November, 1833, when the mobocracy of 
Jackson County, Mo., culminated in the expulsion of the 
Latter-day Saints from their homes in that county. 
Scenes of utmost cruelty and inhumanity had marked 
the treatment of the Saints by the old-time residents and 
their associates of the border ruffian order, from the 
time that the thrift of the "Mormon" people began to 
convert the country into beautiful homes and well- 
stocked and cultivated farms. It was the avarice of cun- 
ning scoundrels, the envy of thriftless farmers, and the 
jealousy of poorly paid but hireling ministers of other 
faiths, combined with the demagoguery of run-down poli- 
ticians, which formed the combination of thieving rob- 
bers and mobocrats bent on despoiling the Saints and 
stealing their property. This combination became suc- 
cessful when the power and authority of the state and 
local governments were at length perverted to the accom- 
plishment of its devilish purposes. 



^This interesting narrative is reprinted from the Improvement 
Era, Vol. VI, p. I, 1902. Its unquestioned integrity and the well- 
established authenticity of the prophecy it contains, together with 
the fulfillment thereof seem to justify its being placed along with 
the group of prophecies herein considered. 



And Their Fulfillment 181 

The people were literally driven from their homes, 
wives and chidren separated from their husbands and 
fathers, their homes broken into and often burned. Legal 
remedies, taken at the instance of the governor (in which 
the name of Doniphan first appears as one of the attor- 
neys employed by the Saints) were rendered abortive by 
the double-dealing rascality of official associates, with 
Lieutenant-Governor Boggs at their head. The warfare 
was relentless, and the forced evacuation, without re- 
course or remedy, of the whole "Mormon" people was 
complete. They fled in peril of their lives, sacrificing 
homes and lands, and all their possessions, into the ad- 
joining counties. 

They were welcomed and treated kindly for a time 
in Clay County, where they remained until 1836. Then, 
for the sake of peace, and, it was claimed to prevent civil 
war among their neighbors, and the possible re-enact- 
ment of tha reign of terror that had been experienced in 
Jackson County, they removed weLtward and located in 
Caladwell County, where they built up the town of 
Far West. They were prospered here, and in the coun- 
ties of Daviess and Carroll, until fall of 1838. 

By this time, the spirit of relentless hatred of the 
mobocratic classes that had prevailed against the Saints 
in Jackson and Clay counties had worked upon the preju- 
dices of all neighboring non-"Mormon" communities and 
had so dominated the officials of the state that the lives 
and liberties of the "Mormon" leaders and people were 
in constant jeopardy from attacks made upon them by 
lawless bands of renegades and ruffians, with whom were 
associated others having claims to respectability, but 
whose ignorance and prejudice made them little less 
dangerous. 

The state militia was called out to quell the mob. It 
was commanded, in part, by men notoriously anti- 
"Mormon," but there were some exceptions. In partic- 



182 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

ular is the name of Colonel A. W. Doniphan held in 
honored remembrance. He was in command of about 
five hundred men from Clay County, who had been or- 
dered by the governor to operate with the commands 
under Generals Clark, Lucas, and Wilson, ostensibly for 
the purpose of protecting the peaceable citizens, and dis- 
pelling the mob; really for the purpose of carrying out 
\he infamous order of extermination, which the governor 
had already issued to General Clark, and in which he had 
used the words: "The Mormons must be treated as pub- 
lic enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from 
the state." 

These troops, (numbering over two thousand, ap- 
proached Far West, and demanded the capitulation of 
the town upon the following terms: 

First— to give up all the Church leaders to be tried 
and punished. 

Second — To make an appropriation of their property, 
all who have taken up arms, to the payment of the debts, 
and indemnity for damage done by them. 

Third — That the balance should leave the state, and be 
protected out by the militia, but to remain until further 
orders were received from the commander-in-chief. 

Fourth — To give up their arms of every description, 
to be receipted for. 

Colonel Hinkle, in command of the "Mormon" forces 
who were themselves a lawfully organized part of the 
state militia, betrayed the leaders of the Church, and, by 
a stratagem, delivered them into the custody of General 
Lucas, accepting for his people the above terms of sur- 
render, without consulting their leaders; and practically 
condemning the latter to prison, if not to death, and their 
followers to the confiscation of all their property, and 
themselves to exile from the state. 

In briefly narrating these events, from the history of 
the Missouri persecutions, it is for the purpose of direct- 



And Their Fulfillment 183 

ing attention to an occasion when the valorous friendship 
of General Doniphan was fairly put to the test and his 
love of fair play — of the principles of human liberty 
upon which our government is founded, and his courage 
in protesting against their abuse, were conspicuously dis- 
played. 

The night after the betrayal by Hinkle, a court-mar- 
tial was held consisting of some fourteen militia officers, 
and about twenty priests of the different denominations, 
besides the circuit judge, Austin A. King, and the district 
attorney. The decision of this anomalous aggregation 
of military, spiritual and judicial mobocrats, called a 
court-martial, was that the prisoners — Joseph and Hyrum 
Smith, Lyman Wight and some six or eight others, who 
were held as hostages for the carrying out of the terms 
of surrender and expulsion, should be shot and the fol- 
lowing morning at 8 o'clock, in the public square of Far 
West, as an example to the "Mormon" people. 

General Wilson had made an effort to corrupt Colonel 
Wight of the "Mormon" militia, during the preceding 
day, and to get him to testify something against Joseph 
Smith. When the conclusion of the court-martial was 
reached, he took Wight aside and told him the decision. 
"Shoot and be damned," said Wight. About this time 
General Doniphan came up, and, addressing Wight, said : 
"Colonel, the decision is a damned hard one, but I wash 
my hands against such cold-blooded murder." He fur- 
ther said he should remove his troops the following day, 
as soon as light, so that they should not witness this 
heartless murder. General Graham and a few others had 
voted against the decision of the court-martial, but it 
availed nothing. 

This bold stand, taken by General Doniphan the next 
morning, in removing his troops and denouncing the exe- 
cution of the prisoners as cold-blooded murder, alarmed 
Lucas, and he changed his mind about executing the de- 
cision of the court-martial. In fact, he revoked the de- 



184 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

cree, and placed the prisoners in charge of General Wil- 
son, with instructions to conduct them to Independence. 
They /were afterwards taken to Richmond, and finally 
were committed to Liberty jail, to await trial on a charge 
of treason. It was during these proceedings that General 
Doniphan acted as leading counsel for the prophet and 
his associates, who considered that, under God, he had 
been the means of saving their lives, after they had been 
condemned by Lucas' court-martial. 

It was during this incarceration of the Prophet that 
the Saints were driven out of the state, and in the con- 
duct of the enforced exodus, that President Brigham 
Young displayed those great qualities of administrative 
ability, which afterwards so distinguished him as the 
leader of the "Mormon" people. 

As to the people of Jackson County, who remained 
after the Saints were driven out, who and what were 
they? The history of the town of Independence, and its 
neighborhood, is the best answer. Up to the end of the 
Civil war — a generation after the "Mormon" expulsion 
— the town never attained the population nor impor- 
tance which the "Mormons" had given it, and the county 
was notorious for its thriftlessness and ^verty, though 
occupying a very garden-spot of the whole earth. It was 
notorious as the refuge of cattle thieves and horse thieves, 
the home of unrest and discontent, of schism and dis- 
cord. No spot in the nation was so torn and rent over 
the question of slavery. In no place was the bitterness 
of the controversy for and against the Union so violent. 
Scarcely a family was united upon these questions, and, 
when the war broke out, in no other place were there so 
many families broken up, fathers fighting against sons, 
brothers against brothers. There, however, never came 
out of this county an organized force of good repute for 
either side. On the contrary, its people contributed a 
low-type of guerilla and renegade warfare, which both 



And Their Fulfillment 185 

armies despised; and which finally led to a castigation 
and punishment that fulfilled the words of a prophecy, 
and held its name up to the contempt and ridicule of the 
whole world. 

This came about in 1863, when General Ewing was in 
command of the military district in which Jackson 
County was located. 

The practice of the guerilla bands of making stealthy, 
assassin-like, sudden attacks upon the Union troops, from 
ambush, as they were marching from point to point, 
and then disappearing, became so intolerable that ex- 
treme measures were resolved upon to stop it. These 
contemplated the destruction of the base of supplies of 
the marauding parties. It was found that the principal 
location was Jackson County, where forage for their 
horses, and food for the men, and change of animals and 
equipment were being secretly furnished, as the oppor- 
tunity and need of the renegade parties required. Women 
and children even were frequently discoverd contributing 
to the sustenance and help of these parties. The whole 
county came to be regarded as a nest-bed of traitors and 
spies, a refuge for assassins and robbers, whose murder- 
ous and uncivilized warfare could not be combatted by the 
ordinary rules and practices of civilized war, and that 
must be put down by means that should be effective, how- 
ever cruel and relentless. This determination led to the 
issuance of the celebrated "General order No. 11," which 
has been more widely published and quoted, because of 
the manner and thoroughness of its execution, than al- 
most any other order of the Civil War. It is also cele- 
brated in oratory, and art, affording the theme of many 
a campaign and historical oration from the lips of Mis- 
souri's greatest public speakers; and is the inspiration 
of the widely celebrated painting of Bingham, her great- 
set painter. 



186 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

"General Orders, No. 11 

"Headquarters District of the Border, 

"Kansas City, Mo., August 25, 1863. 

"1. All persons living in Jackson, Cass and Bates counties, Mo., 
and in that part of Vernon included in this district, except those 
living within one mile of the limits of Independence, Hickman's 
Mills, Pleasant Hill and Harrisonville, and except those in that 
part of Kaw Township, Jackson County, north of Brush Creek and 
west of the Big Blue, are hereby ordered to remove from their 
present places of residence within fiften days from the date 
hereof. 

"Those who, within that time, establish their loyalty to the sat- 
isfaction of the commanding officer of the military station nearest 
their present places of residence, will receive from him certificates 
stating the fact of their loyalty and the names of the witnesss 
by whom it can be shown. All who receive such certificates will 
be permitted to remove to any military station in this district, or 
to any part of the State of Kansas except the counties on the 
eastern border of the State. All others shall remove out of this 
district. Officers commanding companies and detachments serv- 
ing in the counties named will see that this paragraph is promptly 
obeyed. 

"2. All grain and hay, in the field or under shelter, in the 
district from which the inhabitants are required to remove, within 
reach of military stations, after the 9th day of September next, 
will be taken to such stations, and turned over to the proper offi- 
cers there; and report of the amounts so turned over made to 
District Headquarters, specifying the names of all loyal owners 
and the amount of such produce taken from them. All grain and 
hay found in such district after the 9th day of September next, 
not convenient to such stations, will be destroyed. 

"3. The provisions of General Orders No. 10 from these Head- 
quarters will be at once vigorously executed by officers com- 
manding in the parts of the districts, and at the stations, not sub- 
ject to the operation of Paragraph 1 of his Order, and especially 
in the towns of Independence, Westport and Kansas City. 

"4. Paragraph 3, General Orders No. 10, is revoked as to all 
who have borne arms against the Government in this district since 
the 20th day of August, 1863. 

"By order of Brigadier-General Ewing. 

"H. Hannahs, Adjutant." 

The devastation of Jackson County under the above 
order has been denounced as one of the most cruel and 



And Their Fulfillment 187 

unsparing incidents of the Civil War. The driving and 
herding of women and children from their burning 
homes, the destruction of barrs, fences, stacks and fields 
of hay and grain, and the tramping and treading under 
foot of armed men and horses of almost every acre within 
the borders of the county, left it desolate, forbidding, a 
spectacle to wring tears from the eyes of the pitying, and 
agony from the hearts of those despoiled. Nothing like 
it had been seen since the expulsion of the "Mormons" 
from the same county, in 1833. 



I had the pleasure, in the early part of this year 
[1902] to meet Hon. Leonidas M. Lawson, of New York 
City, formerly a resident of Clay County, Missouri. Mr. 
Lawson is a brother-in-law of General Doniphan, and, 
one night, in the beautiful University Club, a night I 
shall long remember, he recounted to me many parts of 
the story here related. He said that his father had told 
him in his youth of the inhumanity of the Missourians* 
treatment of the "Mormon" people, and then he told me 
of his own visit to General Doniphan, in_ 1863 ; of their 
riding over Jackson County together, and of the incidents 
related in the following letter, which I requested him to 
write. Mr. Lawson is a man standing high in his profes- 
sion, a lawyer of great ability, an orator known in Mis- 
souri, New York, and London, a man of world-wide 
travel and information, whose observations upon affairs 
and men are of recognized weight and value in the cos- 
mopolitan circle of his acquaintance. It was a pleasure 
to hear him, without prejudice for or against the "Mor- 
mons," narrate eloquently the circumstances which he 
has so briefly, but pointedly, set down in this communi- 
cation : 

"New York City, February 7, 1902. 
"Mr. Junius F. Wells, New York. 

"My Dear Sir: — Responding to your request for a statement 
concerning the devastation of Jackson County, Mo., permit me 
to say: 



188 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

"I am preparing a biographical sketch of General Alexander W. 
Doniphan. It will be remembered that General Doniphan com- 
manded the famous expedition, which during the Mexican War, 
marched from Fort Leavenworth to Santa Fe, and thence to Chi- 
huahua, fighting en route the Battle of Bracito and the Battle of 
Sacramento; in this latter engagement his little army of 1000 
Missourians was opposed by a Mexican army 4000 strong. In the 
biography occurs the following interesting passage: 

"In the year 1863, I visited General A. W. Doniphan at his 
home in Jackson County, Mo. This was soon after the devastation 
of Jackson County, Mo., under what is known as "Order No. 
11." This devastation was complete. Farms were everywhere de- 
stroyed, and the farm houses were burned. During this visit 
General Doniphan related the following historical facts and per- 
sonal incidents: 

" 'About the year 1831-2, the Mormons settled in Jackson 
County, Mo., under the leadership of Joseph Smith. The people 
of Jackson County became dissatisfied with their presence, and 
forced them to leave; and they crossed the Missouri River and 
settled in the counties of DeKalb, Caldwell, and Ray. They 
founded the town of Far West, and began to prepare the founda- 
tion of a Temple. It was here that the trouble arose which cul- 
minated in the expulsion of the Mormons from the State of Mis- 
souri, according to the command of Governor Lilburn W. Boggs. 
This was known in Missouri annals as the Mormon War. There 
were many among those who obeyed the order of the Governor, in 
the State Militia, who believed that the movement against the 
Mormons was unjust and cruel, and that the excitement was kept 
up by those who coveted the homes, the barns and the fields of 
the Mormon people. The latter, during their residence in the 
State of Missouri, paid, in entry fees for the land they claimed, 
to the U. S. Government Land Office, more than $300,000.00, 
which for that period represented a tremendous interest. During 
their sojourn in Missouri the Mormons did not practice or teach 
polygamy, so that question did not enter into it. 

" 'Following the early excitement, Joseph Smith was indicted for 
treason against the State of Missouri, and General Doniphan was 
one of the counsel employed to defend him, he having shown a 
friendly interest in Smith, whom he considered very badly treated. 
Joseph Smith was placed in prison in Liberty, Missouri, to await 
his trial. This place was the residence of General Doniphan. His 
partner in the practice of law was James H. Baldwin. 

" 'On one occasion General Doniphan caused the sheriff of the 
county to bring Joseph Smith from the prison to his law office, 
for the purpose of consultation about his defense. During Smith's 



And Their Fulfillment 189 

presence in the office, a resident of Jackson County, Missouri, 
came in for the purpose of paying a fee which was due by him to 
the firm of Doniphan and Baldwin, and offered in payment a 
tract of land in Jackson County. 

" 'Doniphan told him that his parner, Mr. Baldwin, was almost 
at the moment, but as soon as he had an opportunity he would 
consult him and decide about the matter. When the Jackson 
County man retired, Joseph Smith, who had overheard the con- 
versation, addressed General Doniphan about as follows: 

" 'Doniphan, I advise you not to take that Jackson County land 
in payment of the debt. God's wrath hangs over Jackson County. 
God's people have been ruthlessly driven from it, and you will 
live to see the day when it will be visited by fire and sword. The 
Lord of Hosts will sweep it with the besom of destruction. The 
fields and farms and houses will be destroyed, and only the chim- 
neys will be left to mark the desolation.' 

"General Doniphan said to me that the devastation of Jackson 
County forcibly reminded him of this remarkable prediction of the 
Mormon prophet. 

"Yours sincerely, 

"L. M. Lawson." 

There is a prediction of the Prophet Joseph, not before 
put into print, and history has recorded its complete ful- 
fillment. 

As a remarkable evidence of its literal and exact ful- 
fillment, I add the following self-explanatory and inter- 
esting letter from Judge A. Saxey, written in reply to a 
request for information upon the subject, and call atten- 
tion to his use of the almost exact words of Joseph's 
prophecy, though so far as I know, he has not even heard 
that such a prediction was ever made: 

"Spanish Fork, Utah, August 25, 1902." 
"Mr. Junius F. Wells, Salt luoke City, Utah, 

"Dear Sir: — Yours of August 22nd received. I hardly know 
how to write in a letter concerning the subject you inquire about. 
However, I will give you a little of what I know, and if you can 
use it, all right. 

"I enlisted in a Kansas regiment in 1861. During the winter of 
1861 and '62, my regiment was stationed at Kansas City, and we 
were around in Jackson County a great deal during the winter. 
Quantrill was operating in that locality, and we were trying to 



190 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

catch him. At one time, we surrounded Independence, and arrested 
everyone in the town. I can testify that Jackson County contained 
more contemptible, mean, devilish rebels than any I came across 
in an experience of four years. I had quite a talk with a man I 
arrested who lived on the Blue River, and who was there when the 
Saints were driven out, but that, I suppose, would be somewhat 
foreign to your inquiry. 

"In the spring of 1862, my regiment went south, and it was dur- 
ing that time that "Order No. 11" was issued, but I was back there 
again in 1864, during the Price raid, and saw the condition of the 
country. The duty of executing the order was committed to Col. 
W. R. Penick's regiment, and there is no doubt but that he car- 
ried it into effect, from the howl the Copperhead papers made at 
the time. I went down the Blue River. We found houses, barns, 
outbuildings, nearly all burned down, and nothing left standing 
but the chimneys, which had, according to the fashion of the time, 
been built on the outside of the buildings. I remember very 
well that the county looked a veritable desolation. 

"I do not know that what I have written will do you any good, 
if it will, you are welcome. Of course, I could tell a great deal 
more than I can write in a letter. 

"Respectfully, 

"A. Saxey." 



And Their Fulfillment 19 1 



Conclusion 

Was Joseph Smith a Prophet of God? Did he foretell 
things "beyond the power of human sagacity to discern 
or to calculate?" Has the "gift" of prophecy been exer- 
cised by the Priesthood in this dispensation as it was in 
former gospel dispensations? Precisely. The opening 
events of this dispensation were linked with prophecies 
to the effect that Joseph Smith's name should be evilly 
spoken of in all the world. An obscure boy is projected 
upon the screen of the world's great, unending drama; 
his cause thrives upon opposition and persecution; his 
martyrdom glorifies his mission, and after the lapse of 
a century his name is "had for good and evil among all 
nations." He is told that the "Lord is about to perform 
a marvelous work and a wonder." His followers are 
driven from county to county, and from state to state, 
and finally from the national confines. They establish 
an abiding place of their own in a land far from the 
haunts of men. The currents of human enterprise follow 
them. Conflict again arises; they are opposed; they are 
hated; they are persecuted and imprisoned; they are 
disfranchised; they are escheated of their property; they 
are unchurched. The storm subsides; yielding with honor 
is followed by reconcilement; peace and amity prevail; 
good will and golden friendships obtain; wrongs are 
adjusted; restitutions are made; forbearance and charity 
pave the way to brotherhood and growth and power 
come to them. Their sacrifices are compensated; their 
hopes are realized; their motives are understood and the 
thing called "Mormonism" succeeds. It succeeds socially 
industrially, intellectually, and, above all, spiritually. 
"Mormonism" is a success. 



192 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

The prophecies considered in this little volume have 
been fulfilled. Their authorship is established; their 
genuineness cannot be questioned. These "Mormon" 
teachers, preachers, writers and historians have told the 
truth. And now, after the unfoldments of a century, the 
divine purposes have come to open view so that all who 
will may see the words of God verified. The historian 
Bancroft, in 1891, said: "The Church records are truth- 
ful and reliable." In the publication of their records the 
Latter-day Saints have displayed their sublime faith and 
fearlessness. They have nothing to conceal, but every- 
thing to give. Such are the characteristics of honesty. 
And what a bounteous harvest has the century brought 
forth as vindication of their faith in the Almighty who 
has been their shield and source of light. That He and 
they might stand justified before the world, behold their 
prophet's words fulfilled though ambitious men are 
brought to the dust in humiliation and ruin; empires rise 
where desolation reigned; nations are bathed in blood, 
and a world mourns and groans under the burden of its 
woes; nations irresistibly pursue the course pointed out 
for them by the finger of God ; ancient and dread powers 
are broken down and abased; the haughty and the proud 
are brought low that the oppressed and down-trodden 
might be let free and become exalted. These great and 
overpowering events have transpired, contrary to the judg- 
ment of men, but in fulfillment of God's never-failing 
word. So that the first century of "Mormonism," preg- 
nant with mighty events as no other century has been, 
proclaims as with the voice of thunder and war, as with 
the pall of scourge and pestilence, as with the hum and 
music of happy nations thriving in prosperity, and as 
with the majesty of a great spiritual triumph, Joseph 
Smith a Prophet of God. 



And Their Fulfillment 193 



APPENDIX 



Prayer of Orson Hyde on the Mount 
of Olives 

The following is copied from the Millennial Star, 
Vol. 19, 1856, Liverpool. It is a part of a letter ad- 
dressed to Parley P. Pratt, in England, and was written 
by Orson Hyde, November 22, 1841, at Alexandria: 

"On Sunday morning, October 24 a good while be- 
fore day, I ( arose from sleep, and went out of the city 7 
as soon as the gates were opened, crossed the brook 
Kedron, and went upon the Mount of Olives, and there 
in solemn silence, with pen, ink, and paper, just as I 
saw in the vision, offered up the following prayer to 
Him who lives forever and ever: 

"0, thou! who art from everlasting to everlasting, 
eternally and unchangeably the same, even the God who 
rules the heavens above, and controls the destinies of 
men on the earth, wilt thou not condescend, through 
thine infinite goodness and royal favor, to listen to the 
prayer of thy servant which he this day offers up unto 
thee in the name of thy holy child Jesus, upon this land, 
where the Sun of Righteousness set in blood, and thine 
Anointed One expired. 

"Be pleased, Lord, to forgive all the follies, weak- 
nesses, vanities, and sins of thy servant, and strengthen 
him to resist all future temptations. Give him prudence 
and discernment that he may avoid the evil, and a heart 

14 



194 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

to choose the good; give him fortitude to bear up under 
all things for thy name's sake, until the end shall come, 
when all the saints shall rest in peace. 

"Now, Lord! Thy servant has been obedient to the 
heavenly vision which thou gavest him in his native land; 
and under the shadow of thine outstretched arm, he has 
safely arrived in this place to dedicate and consecrate 
this land unto thee, for the gathering together of Judah's 
scattered remnants, according to the prediction of the 
holy prophets — for the building up of Jerusalem again 
after it has been trodden down by the Gentiles so long, 
and for rearing a temple in honor of thy name. Ever- 
lasting thanks be ascribed unto thee, Father, Lord of 
heaven and earth, that thou hast preserved thy servant 
from the dangers of the seas, and from the plague and 
pestilence which have caused the land to mourn. The 
violence of man has been restrained, and thy providential 
care by night and by day has been exercised over thine 
unworthy servant. Accept, therefore, Lord, the tribute 
of a grateful heart for all past favors, and be pleased 
to continue thy kindness and mercy towards a needy 
worm of the dust. 

"0 thou, who didst covenant with Abraham, thy 
friend, and who didst renew that covenant with Isaac, and 
confirm the same with Jacob with an oath, that thou 
wouldst not only give them this land for an everlasting 
inheritance, but that thou wouldst remember their seed 
forever. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have long since 
closed their eyes in death, and made the grave their 
mansion. Their children are scattered and dispersed 
abroad among the nations of the Gentiles like sheep that 
have no shepherd, and are still looking forward for the 
fulfillment of those promises which thou didst make con- 
cerrirg them; and even this land, which once poured 



And Their Fulfillment 195 

forth nature's richest bounty, and flowed, as it were, 
with milk and honey, has, to a certain extent, been 
smitten with barrenness and sterility since it drank from 
murderous hands the blood of Him who never sinned. 

"Grant, therefore, Lord, in the name of thy well- 
beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to remove the barrenness and 
sterility of this land, and let springs of living water break 
forth to water the thirsty soil. Let the vine and olive 
produce in their strength, and the fig-tree bloom and 
flourish. Let the land become abundantly fruitful when 
possessed by its rightful heirs; let it again flow with 
plenty to feed the returning prodigals who come home 
with a spirit of grace and supplication; upon it let the 
clouds distil virtue and richness, and let the fields smile 
with plenty. Let the flocks and the herds greatly in- 
crease and multiply upon the mountains and the hills; 
let thy great kindness conquer and subdue the unbelief 
of thy people. Do thou take from them their stony heart 
and give them a heart of flesh, and may the Sun of thy 
favor dispel the mists of darkness which have beclouded 
their atmosphere. Incline them to gather in upon this 
land according to thy word. Let them come like clouds 
and like doves to their windows. Let the large ships 
of the nations bring them from the distant isles; and 
let kings become their nursing fathers and queens with 
motherly fondness wipe the tear of sorrow from their 
eye. 

"Thou, Lord, did once move upon the heart of 
Cyrus to show favor unto Jerusalem and her children. 
Do thou also be pleased to inspire the hearts of kings 
and the powers of the earth to look with a friendly 
eye toward this place, and with a desire to see thy right- 
eous purposes executed in relation thereto. Let them 
know that it is thy good pleasure to restore the kingdom 



196 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 



unto Israel — raise up Jerusalem as its capital, and con- 
stitute her people a distinct nation and government, 
with David thy servant, even a descendant from the loins 
of ancient David to be their king. 

"Let that nation or that people who shall take an 
active part in the behalf of Abraham's children, and 
in the raising up of Jerusalem, find favor in thy sight. 
Let not their enemies prevail against them, neither let 
pestilence or famine overcome them, but let the glory 
of Israel over-shadow them, and the power of the high- 
est protect them; while that nation or kingdom that will 
not serve thee in this glorious work must perish, accord- 
ing to thy word: 'Yea, those nations shall be utterly 
wasted.' 1 

"Though thy servant is far from his home, and from 
the land bedewed with his earliest tears, yet he re- 
members, Lord, his friends who are there, and fam- 
ily, whom for thy sake he has left. Though poverty and 
privation be our earthly lot, yet, ah! do thou richly en- 
dow us with an inheritance where moth and rust do not 
corrupt, and where theives do not break through and 
steal. 

"The hands that have fed, clothed, or shown favor un- 
to the family of thy servant in his absence, or that shall 
hereafter do so, let them not lose their reward, but let 
a special blessing rest upon them, and in thy kingdom 



1 See Isaiah, 6th chapter. 

We cannot let this paragraph pass without making the obser- 
vation which recent events in the Holy Land cause to arise in our 
mind. Compare the relative condition of Great Britain and that 
of Germany and Turkey at the termination of the World War. 
Also bear in mind the hostility of the two latter kingdoms with 
respect to the restoration of Palestine to the descendants of David, 
and in striking contrast witness the friendship before, and partic- 
ularly since, exhibited by the British with respect to the "raising 
up of Jerusalem" for the benefit of the Jews. 






And Their Fulfillment 197 

let them have an inheritance when thou shalt come to 
be glorified in this society. 

"Do thou look with favor upon all those through 
whose liberality I have been enabled to come to this 
land; and in the day when thou shalt reward all people 
according to their works, let these also not be passed 
by or forgotten, but in time let them be in readiness to 
enjoy the glory of those mansions which Jesus has gone 
to prepare. Particularly do thou bless the stranger in 
Philadelphia, whom I never saw, but who sent me gold, 
with a request that I should pray for him in Jerusalem. 
Now, Lord, let blessings come upon him from an un- 
expected quarter, and let his basket be filled, and his 
store-house be filled with plenty, and let not the good 
things of the earth be his only portion, but let him be 
found among those to whom it shall be said, 'Thou hast 
been faithful over a few things, and I will make the 
ruler over many.' 

"0 my Father in heaven! I now ask thee in the name 
of Jesus to remember Zion with all her stakes, and with 
all her assemblies. She has been greviously afflicted 
and smitten; she has mourned; she has wept; her en- 
emies have triumphed, and have said, 'Ah, where is thy 
God?' Her priests and prophets have groaned in chains 
and fetters within the gloomy walls of prisons, while 
many were slain, and now sleep in the arms of death. 
How long, Lord, shall iniquity triumph, and sin go 
unpunished? 

"Do thou arise in the majesty of thy strength, and 
make bare thine arm in behalf of thy people. Redress 
their wrongs, and turn their sorrow into joy. Pour 
the spirit of light and knowledge, grace and wisdom, in- 
to the hearts of her prophets, and clothe her priests with 
salvation. Let light and knowledge march forth through 



198 Prophecies of Joseph Smith 

the empire of darkness, and may the honest in heart 
flow to their standard, and join in the march to go forth 
to meet the bridegroom. 

"Let a peculiar blessing rest upon the presidency of 
thy Church, for at them are the arrows of the enemy 
directed. Be thou to them a sun and a shield, their 
strong tower and hiding place; and in the time of dis- 
tress or danger be thou near to deliver. Also the quor- 
um of the Twelve, do thou be pleased to stand by them 
for thou knowest the obstacles which they have to en- 
counter, the temptations to which they are exposed, and 
the privations which they must suffer. Give us, [the 
Twelve] therefore, strength according to our day, and 
help us to bear a faithful testimony of Jesus and his 
Gospel, to finish with fidedlity and honor the work which 
thou hast given us to do, and then give us a place in thy 
glorious kingdom. And let this blessing rest upon every 
faithful officer and member in thy Church. And all the 
glory and honor we will ascribe unto God and the lamb 
forever and forever. Amen." 



! 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



021 064 299 7 



£21 



